The detractors, conspiracy theorists, and just plain loons, will attach the Obama administration for not having enough of the H1N1 vaccination available (which is beyond their control) while at the same time claiming the government is overreacting about the threat this flu could pose. Most people, if given the option, should get the vaccination.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/nov/05/hhs-admits-overstating-flu-vaccine-availability/?feat=home_cube_position1

Uh Sean Tully, read this. Then comment.

"Two top officials at the Department of Health and Human Services acknowledged to a congressional panel Wednesday that the government had overpromised and made poor judgments on vaccination production against the current H1N1 flu pandemic.

The government's initial plan was to have 160 million doses available in October; the actual production at month's end was barely 15 percent of that -- 24.8 million doses.

"In hindsight, it's clear we should have been more skeptical," Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said of the government's consistently overstated estimates on the amount of vaccine that would be ready for public distribution.

Dr. Frieden spoke before a meeting of the House Appropriations subcommittee on labor, health and human services, education and related agencies, in response to concerns by Rep. David R. Obey, Wisconsin Democrat and the panel's chairman, about why production of supplies had been so slow and what needed to change for the future.

Dr. Frieden attributed the shortfall to the unpredictable rate of growth of the flu virus in egg cultures that are used to make the vaccine. In effect, the government failed to properly count its chickens -- or eggs -- before they hatched.

"The original estimate was based on our collective experience of the flu. We were optimistic," admitted Dr. Nicole Lurie, Health and Human Services assistant secretary for preparedness and response.

Under repeated questioning, neither Dr. Frieden nor Dr. Lurie would predict when there will be enough vaccine necessary to inoculate the population groups that CDC has recommended be first in line, including pregnant women, health care workers and people who take care of children. "

FAILURE of this administration! If this amateur hour Chicago gang cannot TELL THE TRUTH about a vaccine, do you beLIEve what they are telling you about health care?

The flu vaccine is being manufactured by the big pharmaceutical companies. We have had to come up with large batches of vaccines for inoculation in a short period of time. Most flu viruses are not predictable in behavior. They also mutate rapidly even as the scientific community is trying to keep them at bay. If the H1N1 virus is displaying erratic growth in egg cultures that is a scientific event, not a political one. Scientists are probably disappointed and surprised that the virus is not cooperating in cultures and helping them harvest a bumper crop for adequate vaccine manufacture. Note that the production and the distribution of these vaccines is a private enterprise. The delay simply shows that men are liable to be outsmarted by microscopic bugs in their war against germs. Should all children get this vaccine? No doubt, they should. There is a live attenuated nasal spray vaccine available to them if they are terrified of needles. Asthmatics with severe allergies and those allergic to eggs are not good candidates. The vaccine is no different from the regular flu vaccine and thus far no serious side effects have been reported. TV and radio personalities who are not doctors and scientists do a terrible disservice when they rant about the potential dangers of the H1N1 vaccine arising from government incompetence. Wake up and smell the coffee. These folks will do nothing to save your children when they are laid low by this clever and lethal virus. Parents should set their fears aside. After all everything new we attempt in life carries some risk. For this vaccine the benefits far outweigh the risks for most children. Sign the forms, return them and relax that your kids will be protected.
A doctor

Fed Up - People should stop trying to blame the US government for the drug companies not being able to meet their stated delivery schedules. The US had its orders in and the drug companies gave delivery schedules that they couldn't keep for a variety of reasons. So there is not enough right now for everyone in the high risk groups. http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/influenza/swineflu/news/oct2309vaxsupply.html

Alice, that WAS THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION people testifying!
Their OWN WORDS.
Denial is a river!

Didn't Bill and Hillary drive some of the vaccine producers out of business years ago with a program called The Children’s Vaccine Initiative?
It was meant to FIX prices and so the companies folded.

"President Clinton and Vice President Gore raised childhood immunization rates to record levels by investing in the Childhood Immunization Initiative in 1993."

"Perhaps reporters ought to ask New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, since one of the few health care reforms she managed to inflict on the nation during her co-presidency has now backfired by driving most of America's flu vaccine producers out of business.

As reported by the Wall Street Journal this week, "The reason for today's shortage - as well as seven previous preventive vaccine shortages since 2000 - is that there are just five vaccine makers.

"This lack of suppliers is partly thanks to Hillary Clinton, who as first lady turned government into the majority buyer of vaccines and pushed prices so low as to make business unsustainable."

Last summer the Journal noted that the problem goes back to 1993, when Mrs. Clinton's "Vaccines for Children Program" was first implemented.

Hillary's vaccine crusade was being pushed by her Children's Defense Fund mentor Marian Wright Edelman - even though U.S. child vaccination rates at the time were considered relatively high by medical experts.

But that didn't stop Sen. Clinton and her "reformers." She pressured Congress to back the disastrous plan in a bid to make vaccines more available to poor, uninsured and underinsured children. In the process she turned the government into the major purchaser and distributor of vaccines. "

"Similarly, price controls threaten the supply of vaccines. In 1993 Congress passed former first lady Hillary Clinton's Vaccines for Children program, under which the government now purchases more than half the national supply of children's vaccines at a forced 50 percent discount and then distributes it to doctors who administer it to the poor and uninsured—despite a General Accounting Office report at the time stating that "vaccines are already free" for the truly needy. One result of price control programs and liability laws has been that the number of vaccine producers has fallen in thirty years from twenty-five down to five. For some vaccines, there is only one producer. "

Parents do realize how important it is, however, it seems that there is a secret area that is getting the shots before anyone knows where to get them. I have called numerous numbers, only to be told that they are gone but call every day and find out when more are coming in. Where are the vaccines going and who is doing the distributing? They are sure not coming to the middle class neighborhoods. Let's get a distribution list, give numbers out and be ready before the vaccine gets here. Maybe then everyone will have a chance to get inoculated instead of certain areas.

If we don't learn from history, we are doomed to repeat it. More people died from the swine flu vaccine then the disease in the 1970's. That's a fact.

Another fact. My family and I will not get the vaccine.

I take it seriously, and I know my history. Also, I'm a master's level healthcare professional.

Ballz Mahoney, you might know history, but I bet you don't know anything about vaccines. I'm a "master's level healthcare professional" as well, and I have some more facts for you.

Fact: The connection between the 1970s vaccine and Guillain Barre syndrome was never definitively established.

Fact: Even if it were, it doesn't matter because this is a DIFFERENT vaccine containing a DIFFERENT virus. Is chicken the same as goose, just because both are birds?

Fact: Your quackery is putting your family in danger. Please keep it to yourself.

There is a difference between the Obama administration being wrong about h1n1 vaccine supplies and it LYING about h1n1 vaccine supplies. I support the Obama administration wholeheartedly. However, the lack of availability of the h1n1 vaccine is causing panic and fear--particularly with seniors, such as my good friend, who is 68, has COPD, suffers pnemonia every winter, yet has been turned down repeatedly for the vaccine. The far right is taking this opportunity to tell seniors that this is only the beginning--"Obamacare" wants to kill them--and this lack of vaccine for terrified seniors with compromised health is the first step.