SWINE FLU UPDATE: Vaccine efforts not going so well: “Projections of the supply of swine flu vaccine have widely varied. During the summer, health officials said 120 million doses would be ready in October. They later dropped the estimate to 40 million doses by the end of the month. Now, Dr. Schuchat said, they expect only 28 million to 30 million doses, adding that the exact numbers were impossible to predict and could change daily.”
Related: Florida plan advises hospitals to bar some patients in event of severe flu pandemic.
UPDATE: Reader Art Fougner, M.D., writes, “H1N1 is Obama’s Katrina. The US Gov’s response to H1N1 has been subpar at best. Not only are docs having a hard time getting seasonal flu vaccine but now the H1N1 vaccine is in short supply. People are dying and the numbers will only get higher. Heckuva job, Barry.” This seems a bit unfair to me — at least I wonder, what should Obama have done differently?
ANOTHER UPDATE: Chuck Simmins disagrees:
Glenn, in no way is this Obama’s Katrina. The shortage of vaccines is solely due to the pandemic beginning in the middle of the production cycle for seasonal flu vaccine. It’s all about eggs, and the supply thereof. Here’s a piece I wrote to try to explain the shortage.
If anyone thinks they can make chickens lay eggs faster, they are welcome to try. Good cluck!
Yeah. I mean, sure, if Bush were President it would be his fault, but really there’s no obvious reason to blame Obama here.