H1N1 is spreading faster than vaccines are available...
Briefing lawmakers today on swine flu are Secretaries Sebelius, Duncan, and Napolitano.
The latest alarming news is just how harmful the H1N1 virus is to children.
Half of those hospitalized are under age 25, and only seven percent are over 65, the hardest-hit group nearly reversed from normal flu.
Dr. Anne Schuchat, Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the CDC said, "This is really, really different from what we see with seasonal flu."
Some schools are overrun.
In Chicago, 900 students called in sick at St. Charles East High School. It closed until Monday.
Idaho's Shoshone School District closed too. One in seven students are sick there.
Shoshone School District Superintendent Mel Wiseman said, "When you got kids in school buses, you got a rolling can of disease."
Experts say the virus is spreading faster than the vaccine. Delays in distribution mean planned clinics at ten Virginia schools this weekend have been canceled.
Now officials are talking next month
"By November there'll be quite a bit more coming out for communities," said Schuchat.
New York City Schools are preparing, sending consent forms to parents. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg urged parents to sign it.
"It can spare a child a week of serious illness and keep the virus from spreading to others," said Bloomberg.
Some are not convinced saying that because it’s a new vaccine, people are wary.
Doctors’ response?
Dr. Cecil Wilson the President-Elect of the American Medical Association said, “I don't think people should be concerned at all about a reactions to the vaccine, I think they should be concerned about not having the vaccine."
Meanwhile, health care workers and others at high risk in Columbus, Ohio lined up in to get it.
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