Lawmakers Challenge Administration Officials on H1N1 Response
FLU HEARING
New London Day
Jeanne Amy
Boston University Washington News Service
10/21/09
WASHINGTON—Three cabinet secretaries told lawmakers on Wednesday that they have learned a lot since the H1N1 flu virus surfaced in April.
The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs held a hearing to monitor the nation’s response to H1N1 flu. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., chairman of the committee, expressed his concern that Americans who want to receive the vaccine may not be able to due to shortages.
“I’m worried that the virus is getting ahead of the public health system’s capacity at this moment to prevent it and to respond to it,” Lieberman said. “We’re facing an enemy whose movement is unpredictable.”
Eleven million doses of the H1N1 vaccine have been ordered by the states as of this week and are being delivered directly to 150,000 sites across the country as they arrive, said Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of Health and Human Services.
“We are better prepared to deal with the current challenge than ever before in history,” Sebelius maintained.
The number of doses available is significantly lower than government officials originally projected and cannot accommodate current demand, Sebelius said. Vaccine production was delayed because of production glitches, she said. State and local governments decide how much to order and where to distribute the vaccines when they arrive.
“We have assumed a lag time between the flu spiking and vaccine availability,” said Janet Napolitano, secretary of Homeland Security.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan said that the federal government has streamlined a tracking system for school dismissals and closures. It hopes to better monitor schools, provide information to teachers and work to keep schools open, he said.
Duncan added that his two children will receive the vaccine.
“By early November, we are confident that vaccine is going to be far more widely available,” Sebelius said. “There is enough vaccine and will be to vaccinate every American who wants to be vaccinated, and we are pushing it out as quickly as we can.”
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