News

CDC Urges Patience As More Swine Flu Shots Arrive

TUESDAY, Nov. 3 (HealthDay News) -- The United States has 31.8 million H1N1 flu vaccine doses available and is on track to have another 10 million ready by week's end, a federal health official said Tuesday.

So far, that isn't enough to prevent long lines at vaccination centers, but it is consistent with what officials had projected earlier this week.

"We're having a steady increase in the availability of vaccine, but not nearly as rapidly as we would have liked," Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told reporters during an afternoon teleconference. "That is encouraging, but it is not nearly as much as we would like. We realize it is frustrating and inconvenient [to patients and to physicians]. As public health professionals, it is frustrating because, in part, many people who seek the vaccine will not get vaccinated later. They might not come back. We ask people to continue to be persistent."

CONNECT with Women Interested inInfluenza

Alison Beaver

Influenza Guide