H1N1 Vaccine Shortage: Inexcusable

For weeks and weeks we've been told by the government that we need to receive the H1N1 vaccine.

How are we supposed to get vaccinated when the government isn't supplying the vaccine?

Local media hype the Swine Flu shot clinics, but the available vaccine doesn't begin to meet the demand.

From FOX News:

H1N1 flu is running rampant throughout the U.S., and the country will have received only 25 percent of the vaccine that was expected by the end of October, Sen. Joe Lieberman told a Senate committee hearing Wednesday.

The grim news was the focus of a special hearing of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, at which three Cabinet secretaries were called to address the panel: Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Education Secretary Arne Duncan.

As of last week, there were more than 5,000 cases of flu reported, compared to 7 cases in October of last year. More than 800 people have died from H1N1, including 86 children, according to the latest reports from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

...CDC officials say there should be widespread availability of the vaccine by mid-November.

Sebelius blamed the vaccine shortage on lower than predicted yields from vaccine manufacturers and on some manufacturing "glitches" that have occurred since May. She said the yields are now more in line with original predictions and that any glitches have been corrected.

"We anticipate a robust production line moving forward," she said.

She said the vaccine that has been received by the U.S. is safe and "right on target" as far as matching the H1N1 strain that is circulating and that most people will require just one vaccination rather than the two originally predicted. Two vaccinations are recommended for children under the age of 10.

Napolitano said federal officials had assumed there would be a lag in vaccine availability and a spike in the flu, so officials are not surprised that H1N1 has spiked at a time when there is not enough vaccine available.

Sebelius said the country is working with five manufacturers to get the vaccine out to the states as quickly as possible and that within another month there should be enough vaccines available for whomever wants to get one. She said so far states have requested 11 millions doses of H1N1 vaccine and the government is shipping it out to states as it becomes available.

Updated guidance has been offered to schools, governments and the private sector on how to handle outbreaks, Napolitano said.

"We could have a surge before everyone is vaccinated and we need to keep the country moving,” she said.

This is unacceptable.

It's inexcusable.

Where's the outrage?

Sure, people are ticked off by the government's broken promises and its mixed messages.

But why isn't the Obama administration taking more heat for not being prepared?

From Lee Cary, American Thinker: "Feds Botch Swine Flu Vaccine Distribution"

The federal government is slow to distribute the N1H1 vaccine. And these people want to run our entire healthcare system?

Today, a Senate hearing is underway concerning the Swine Flu and the slow distribution of the N1H1 vaccine. The CDC, and not private contractors, is executing vaccine distribution. Now that the illness is building momentum, the media should be asking - What's the holdup? Who's responsible?

But they won't.

It's just another example of their inbred bias that, with regard to flu epidemics, once ran against N5H1 (Avian or Bird Flu) and the Bush administration, but now is blind concerning the Obama administration and the H1H1.

Cary cites example after example of how the media blasted the Bush administration for not being prepared for flu epidemics. These, of course, were epidemics that never happened.

But here we are, on the verge of a Swine Flu panic, and who's being held accountable for the lack of vaccine?

Why isn't Obama taking any heat for the screw-ups?

How many Americans will die because of the administration's incompetence?

It's inexcusable.

GET VACCINATED!

WAIT!

VACCINE SUPPLIES ARE SCARCE.

DON'T GET VACCINATED!

On October 7, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius promised that there was plenty of vaccine.

"There's going to be plenty of vaccine," the secretary said. "It's rolling off the production lines right now ... ahead of schedule, and that's good news... By the end of October we should have a substantial amount available and begin to vaccinate a wider population of folks."

Said Sebelius: "There's no question the disease is out there, which is why today we're rolling out PSAs (public service announcements) ... to make sure people take steps to help prevent the spread of the disease, and in the meantime we will push the vaccine out as quickly as we get it off the production lines."

What a load!

It's the end of October and we DO NOT have a "substantial amount" of vaccine available.

And Obama wants us to have faith in the government to control our health care?

The H1N1 fiasco is just a taste of things to come if Obama gets his way.

Get in line.

Oops! Sorry! There's not enough vaccine. We have to ration what we have.

Get out of line. Wash your hands and cough into your sleeve. Good luck!