Swine flu shots may be available for students and at-risk groups in October

Billions of dollars have been put aside to pay for a national H1N1 flu vaccine program that could be ready as early as the middle of October, according to the Obama administration.

The announcement was made at an all-day summit on the swine flu outbreak by Kathleen Sebelius, who is the Health and Human Services Secretary. Officials said that a major reason for the summit was to help refurbish a sense of urgency to the global response to the epidemic. Sebelius said that the government has a billion dollars to purchase the main ingredients and an additional $7.5 billion for emergency preparedness funds.

In October, U.S. swine flu vaccinations could start with children being the first to receive them at their local schools , according to the Obama administration. This said, no final decision has been decided on for vaccinations on Americans. This depends mainly on studies with experimental batches that are set to begin the first week in August. These experimental batches will test to see if they are safe and effective and if one or two doses will be needed.

If everything goes well, the federal government will purchase the vaccine from manufacturers and share it freely among the states. The first to get the vaccine will most likely be school-age children, young adults with conditions like asthma, pregnant women and health workers.

Obama said that the chance of an outbreak in the fall is looming, and although he doesn’t want to make people panic, he wants the U.S. to be prepared.

Even though it has become clear that most cases of the swine flu so far were mild and required little or no medical treatment, the summit reinstates that infection rates have not calmed down this summer like some experts predicted. This said, countries such as Britain have had to alter their response. According to the World Health Organization, 2 billion people could become infected around the world.

Public health experts and scientist warn that the prevalence of the swine flu may get worse in the fall as the normal flu season begins or even sooner when schools start to open.