CDC says vaccine shortage likely to outlast current H1N1 wave

The head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) predicted today that the current wave of H1N1 influenza is likely to begin to wane before the shortage of vaccine for it eases.

Dr. Thomas Frieden made the comment at a wide-ranging US House subcommittee session that aired the reasons for and impact of the vaccine delays and the prospects for avoiding a repeat of the problem. The session was streamed over the Web.

"It's likely that the current wave of infection will peak, crest, and begin to decline before there are ample supplies," Frieden told the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies. "Whether there'll be another wave of H1N1 between now and May and whether we'll get a different strain, only time will tell."

In a similar vein, an Alabama health official said there may not be enough vaccine doses to immunize people outside the priority groups until late December. He and other officials said the vaccine shortage has hurt the credibility of public health at all levels.

In other comments, federal health officials described the slow growth of the vaccine virus as the fundamental reason for the current vaccine shortage and suggested that vaccine production difficulties are likely to continue as long as the process relies on growing actual flu viruses, as opposed to producing specific viral proteins.