| ■ Swine Flu Vaccine Production Behind Schedule | 2009.10.24 |
| Federal health officials acknowledged Wednesday that the production of swine flu vaccine has fallen weeks behind, with only 13 million of an expected 120 million doses actually distributed. The Associated Press reported that health officials place the blame both on a painstakingly slow production process and the pressure on vaccine makers to produce seasonal flu vaccine and swine flu H1N1 vaccine simultaneously. Not only that, companies that load the vaccine into syringes have also become backlogged, and the government even experienced a delay in developing the tests that clear each batch for distribution, the wire service reported. Although most cases of the swine flu in the United States have been relatively mild, it has killed more than 800 people since it first showed up in April, including 86 children, 39 of them in the past month and a half, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than half of all hospitalizations since the beginning of September involved patients under the age of 24, the AP reported. |