Chaos, Fear Hamper H1N1 Vaccine Delivery
Some of the first batches of H1N1 vaccine are now being rushed out the door.
But many states are far from figuring out how they'll distribute the 251 million doses headed their way, reports CBS News correspondent Nancy Cordes.
"We have let so many people go in the public health system, there's really isn't a ready-made way to get it out to people quickly," said Michael Osterholm of the University of Minnesota School of Public Health.
Take Dekalb County, Ga., where there are only 44 school nurses in the county's 140 schools, which is complicating plans for mass vaccinations of children.
"When schools came back into session and kids went to college, we saw large numbers of cases," said Thomas Frieden, head of the CDC.
The good news, federal health officials told Congress Tuesday, is that there will eventually be enough vaccine for everyone who wants it.
"We believe the vaccine is likely to be highly effective. We won't know until it's used but that's our belief based on the best science," said the FDA's Jesse Goodman.
But that hasn't quelled anxiety about the hastily produced vaccine.
In Albany Tuesday, New York state health care workers protested a new regulation requiring that they all get inoculated.
In Washington, D.C., a mother of two said she'll wait to get her children vaccinated even though her 3-month-old is at the highest risk.
"My doctor recommended that we not get the H1N1 vaccine for the first round because it's only been tested on 600 children and that's just not a big enough test sample to know what the reaction is going to be," Dima Zalatimo said.
At the CDC in Atlanta, the operations center staff has swelled from six to 232, monitoring both the flu and the vaccination process around the clock.
Officials there are scrambling to compile a database of vaccine side effects to track any adverse reactions to the shots.
"We are concerned any time something new comes out and we understand the public is concerned as well," said Dr. Jay Butler of the Vaccine Distribution Program. "And the public has a right to a safe vaccine."
The National Institutes of Health points out that initial safety tests have been very encouraging and that the H1N1 flu is far, far more hazardous to your health than the vaccine is.
Swine Flu Information on the Web:
CBSNews.com Special Report: H1N1
Flu.gov
CDC Flu Advice
CDC Flu Questions and Answers
Meanwhile, the flu and the fear surrounding it are forcing entire school districts to close down, reports CBS News correspondent Don Teague.
A Colorado middle school closed its doors after 40 percent of students stayed home sick.
There are similar closures in Tennessee, Oklahoma and Texas.
"We want to keep kids at home, and keep them away from each other so they're not re-infecting," said John DeBrock, assistant superintendent of Huntsville Independent School District.
Health officials say H1N1, while highly contagious, is no more dangerous than regular seasonal flu.
But in Fort Worth, Texas, Tom Osborne isn't convinced. His 14-year-old daughter, who he says had no underlying medical conditions, died Sunday, four days after contracting H1N1 flu.
"They were heroically doing CPR for 40 minutes... and they had 26 people in that one little room trying to help her," Osborne said.
Osborne believes the anti-viral medication Tamiflu might have saved his daughter but says her doctors decided not to administer it citing CDC guidelines recommending early doses only be given to certain patients including children under the age of two or those with underlying medical conditions.
"We've tried to review the science about what we know about these antiviral medicines in clinical circumstances and try to direct the medicines where they can really be lifesaving or do the most good," said the CDC's Dr. Anne Schuchat.
Until the H1N1 vaccine is widely available later next month, health officials say the most important thing to do is to get vaccinated against the regular, seasonal flu - now.
