The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced today that everyone will be able to receive vaccinations for the H1N1 virus by mid-October, if not sooner in some places.
Now that the FDA has approved four manufacturers to make the vaccine, there will be about 45 million doses initially available - enough to launch a 90,000-site vaccination plan, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said.
The first doses will become available in three weeks, said Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, after originally predicting the vaccine would not be out until mid- to late October.
Protection from the virus will take eight to 10 days after receiving the vaccine, Frieden said.
Vanderbilt University Medical Center was a testing and development site for the vaccine.
