Seasonal Flu Vaccinations Hit Record

The seasonal flu vaccine will not, repeat not, protect against the swine flu or H1N1. That said, there is absolutely no reason not to get the seasonal flu vaccine: many of the deaths among otherwise healthy people due to H1N1 are due to secondary infections.

Sixty million people have already gotten the seasonal flu vaccine. This is the earliest part of the vaccination season, and thus, this number is unprecedented. Generally, most years see the highest number of vaccinations are done later in the year.

Supplies are already unusually high for this time of the year. Some of this is likely to be because vaccines for seasonal flu were ramped up because of anticipation that people would be more interested in vaccinations after all the H1N1 publicity. There are already 85 million doses of seasonal flu vaccine available, Most years, roughly 100 million doses are used during the entire season.

However publicity over H1N1 infections and deaths in both the U.S. and other countries has created heightened awareness among citizens. Spokepeople for the CDC acknowledged this is part of the reason for the increased vaccinations.

Meanwhile, swine flu is more widespread now than it’s ever been, and has resulted in more than 1,000 U.S. deaths so far. Flu illnesses are as widespread now as they are at the winter peak of normal flu seasons, said CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden.

Although the government doesn't test everyone to determine if they have swine flu, the CDC states that “many millions” of Americans have had swine flu so far. There have been more than 20,000 hospitalizations. Additionally, nearly 100 swine flu deaths in children have been reported, CDC officials also said.

Desperation among some, despite concerns over side effects of the H1N1 vaccine, has brought people to the brink of falling for Internet scams. The FDA has even taken steps to warn about such schemes.