WASHINGTON - The nation’s first round of swine flu shots could begin sooner than expected, with some vaccine available as early as the first week of October, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said yesterday.
Sebelius said she is confident that the vaccine will be available early enough to beat the peak of the expected flu season this fall and that early doses are intended for health care workers and other high-priority groups.
“We’re on track to have an ample supply rolling by the middle of October. But we may have some early vaccine as early as the first full week in October. We’ll get the vaccine out the door as fast as it rolls off the production line,’’ she told ABC’s “This Week.’’
The possibility of early shots follows encouraging news last week about the swine flu vaccine. Researchers have discovered that one dose instead of two could be enough for healthy adults, and protection could begin once vaccinated within 10 days instead of three weeks.
“That’s great, which means we’ll have a lot more vaccine,’’ she said. “We also have seen a robust immune response within 10 days, instead of three weeks as was feared.’’
Sebelius said the vaccine doses will be distributed to designated locations across the country once they are available.
One dose means tight supplies of H1N1 vaccine won’t be stretched so badly. Had it taken twice that dose, or two shots apiece, half as many people could have received the vaccine.
The winter flu vaccine is widely available now, and health authorities urged people last week to get shots now before swine flu shots start arriving. In addition to concerns about swine flu, doctors also expect some garden-variety flu this fall as well, an illness that typically kills 36,000 Americans and hospitalizes 200,000 each year.
In a separate development yesterday, researchers reported the results of successful tests of what could become the first new flu medicine in a decade, and the strongest evidence yet that such drugs save lives, not just shorten illness.
The results were reported at an American Society for Microbiology conference in San Francisco. It is the first big meeting of infectious disease specialists since the new H1N1 swine flu emerged in April.
A single intravenous dose of the experimental drug, peramivir, cleared up flu symptoms as well as five days of Tamiflu pills did, a large study in Asia found. An IV treatment is badly needed because many sick people can’t swallow pills and because illness hinders the body’s ability to absorb oral medicines.
Several other studies showed the value of treatment with Tamiflu. In one study of hundreds of people stricken with bird flu around the world, half of those given Tamiflu survived, while nearly 90 percent of those not given flu medicines died. Other research showed Tamiflu improved survival from regular seasonal flu, too.
“There has been an accumulation of evidence over time that the antiviral drugs can save lives,’’ and the new studies confirm that hope, said Nancy Cox, flu chief at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
