Inhalable H1N1 vaccine to arrive in U.S. first week of October, CDC says

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday announced it anticipates 3.4 million doses of inhalable H1N1 vaccines will be available by the first week of October - the initial influx of 195 million doses purchased by the U.S. government, CNN reports. The vaccine is approved for healthy people between the ages of two and 49, but not for pregnant women (9/18).

In addition to the nasal spray vaccine, known as FluMist, Jay Butler, of the CDC, said it is possible that some injectable H1N1 vaccines will be available in early October as well, the Associated Press/ABC News reports (Stobbe, 9/18).

The Washington Post examines the H1N1 vaccine plan CDC unveiled on Friday: "Vaccine for the H1N1 influenza pandemic will be distributed on a three-day turnaround time from four regional warehouses around the country next month. The vaccine deliveries, expected to equal 20 million doses a week by the end of October, will be distributed among 90,000 immunization 'providers,' including health departments, hospitals, clinics, doctors' offices and pharmacies. The newspaper continues, "Government planners expect demand for vaccine will outstrip supply in the first weeks after it becomes available. During that time, states will have to decide which hospitals, clinics and offices are most apt to reach the priority populations and thus should get vaccine first" (Brown, 9/19).

In related news, the pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Aventis on Monday announced it expects doses of its H1N1 vaccine to first arrive in U.S. in mid-October, AP reports (9/21).

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