According to the CDC, there’s a total of 2.4 million does of vaccine now available. Though it’s a bit of a slow start, 2.2 million doses of vaccine are being released. Every state has ordered a share of the vaccine. The ordering of the 2.2 million doses is a painstaking process because each state must specify which vaccine they want and have a plan in place for delivering it. In addition, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration must inspect each lot of vaccine as it is packaged.
The vaccines will continue to be available to the states as soon as they come off the production line on a lot by lot basis. There will undoubtedly be a few glitches as the process of checking each lot gets ironed out. It is expected to be a strain to keep up with the virus since influenza is widespread in the United States and continues to increase in certain areas.
These first batches of vaccines are mostly nasal spray which is approved for people aged 2 to 49 without asthma or other lung conditions.
Many states are opting to vaccinate healthcare workers first because of their high risk both of being infected and of passing infections along to vulnerable patients but this is a state by state decision.
The U.S. government has ordered 250 million doses from the manufacturers. Calculating that many Americans skip flu shots every year, the CDC believes this will be enough to fill the demand.
