Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the CDC, said at a news conference on Monday in Washington, D.C. that the H1N1 flu continues to spread but that the supply of vaccine to combat the virus is increasing.(CNSNews.com/Penny Starr)
(CNSNews.com) – The number of vaccines that are available to people lining up at health clinics around the country represent only a small fraction of the 250 million doses ordered by the federal government and the 159 million that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated will be needed to vaccinate the most at-risk populations.
 
However, the Obama administration is calling on top health officials to reassure Americans that the vaccine supply is increasing.
 
“The immunization program is advancing,” Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the CDC, said at a press conference at Health and Human Services headquarters in Washington, D.C., on Monday. “As of today, 30 million doses of the H1N1 vaccine are available for the states to order.”
 
But the latest figures available from the CDC show that while 30 millions doses have been allocated for states to order based on each state’s population, less than 17 million doses of the H1N1 vaccine have actually been shipped to states.
 
According to the CDC, 30,033,800 doses of H1N1 vaccine have been allocated (as of Nov. 1); 19,443,600 doses have been ordered by states (as of Oct. 28.); and 16,870,000 have been shipped to U.S. states and territories (as of Oct. 28).
 
In relation to updating the numbers, the CDC Web site notes that “there is a lag time between allocation, ordering, and shipment of doses as project areas place orders and those orders are processed and shipped."
 
When asked by CNSNews.com to explain the difference between vaccine doses allocated and those shipped, Schuchat said there are three parts to the process of getting the vaccine from the manufacturer to the end provider, or the medical facility where people can receive the vaccination.
 
“There are three points of the process that we have been talking about,” Schuchat said. “There’s the number of doses that have been checked into the distributor center – that are fine, they’re all OK – are then allotted to each state for order. So that’s the 30 million that I was talking about. The states are able to order up to 30 million doses.
 
“Then there’s the number of how many doses the states have ordered,” Schuchat said.
“And then the third number is the doses shipped, and that means the orders have come through, the distributor has boxed things up, you know, 400 doses here, 27,000 for this place, and they’re shipped out overnight shipping and will be getting to the community the next day.”
 
As reported earlier by CNSNews.com, the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices named five at-risk “target” groups that it recommended get the H1N1 vaccination – a population it said numbers 159 million.
 
These at-risk groups include:
 
-- pregnant women
-- persons who live with or provide care for infants aged <6 months (e.g., parents, siblings, and daycare providers)
-- health care and emergency medical services personnel
-- persons aged 6 months - 24 years, and
-- persons aged 25 - 64 years who have medical conditions that put them at higher risk for influenza-related complications
 
“These five target groups comprise an estimated 159 million persons in the United States,” the advisory committee said in its recommendations for the H1N1 immunization program.
 
“This estimate does not accurately account for persons who might be included in more than one category (e.g., a health care worker with a high-risk condition)," said the committee. "Vaccination programs and providers should begin vaccination of persons in all these groups as soon as vaccine is available.”
 
At the press conference, Schuchat did not mince words about the progress of the H1N1 influenza virus.
 
“Influenza is widespread in 48 states around the country,” Schuchat said. “Hospitalizations, serious disease, including death, continue to increase.”
 
One statistic the CDC does not have available is the number of Americans who have actually received the H1N1 vaccine.
 
“We’re gathering that information, but right now we don’t know the actual number that have been vaccinated to date,” Llelwyn Grant, spokesperson for the CDC, told CNSNews.com.
 
Grant said the vaccine supply has been increasing at a faster rate in recent weeks and that the millions of Americans who need it will be able to get it.
 
“We are constantly moving toward those numbers,” Grant said. “Our goal is insuring that everyone who wants to be vaccinated represented in those target groups will have that opportunity.”