Production of swine flu vaccine is way behind (4:51 a.m.)

You're stupid. The only way the could MAYBE plan ahead is to come up with a different way of producing flu vaccines. Otherwise, you have to wait until you know what the virus is this year in order to craft the vaccine, and then you have to wait to grow it out.

I bet you a dollar that if the government wanted to push ahead with a Manhattan Project to come up with a new way to make vaccine you'd complain about the tax burden.

JNNM wrote:

Doesn't surprise me in the least and I knew this would be the case with the swine and the H1N1 as well. Does this country ever plan ahead? NO!

The H1N1 is sometimes referred to as the swine flu, they're the same strain. You can't make a vaccine for a new strain of flu overnight. The problem is that the pharmaceuticals that make the vaccine had to make vaccines for the regular flu and the H1N1 flu. And the vaccine for the H1N1 had to be tested before it could be distributed. Just be happy that you're fortunate enough to live in a country that provides free flu vaccinations.

JNNM wrote:

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True. I didn't know that the swine and H1N1 were of the same strain though. If that's the case, then that strain has been around for well over two years now, am I correct?

From the CDC Q&A on H1N1: "What is 2009 H1N1 (swine flu)?
2009 H1N1 (sometimes called “swine flu”) is a new influenza virus causing illness in people. This new virus was first detected in people in the United States in April 2009. This virus is spreading from person-to-person worldwide, probably in much the same way that regular seasonal influenza viruses spread. On June 11, 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) signaled that a pandemic of 2009 H1N1 flu was underway.

Why is 2009 H1N1 virus sometimes called “swine flu”?
This virus was originally referred to as “swine flu” because laboratory testing showed that many of the genes in this new virus were very similar to influenza viruses that normally occur in pigs (swine) in North America. But further study has shown that this new virus is very different from what normally circulates in North American pigs. It has two genes from flu viruses that normally circulate in pigs in Europe and Asia and bird (avian) genes and human genes. Scientists call this a "quadruple reassortant" virus."

http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/qa.htm