Now, the vaccination program begins for real.

There have been many different scenarios laid out but this is how a pandemic vaccination program could go.

No longer do the experts have to say, “It is hoped that there will be a vaccine.” “It is hoped that the vaccine will be approved by such-and-such date.” “It is hoped that manufacturers can produce a sufficient supply…”

The it-is-hoped-that period has ended.

The U.S. government has announced its work plan for coordinated deliveries of vaccine to 90,000 providers.The plan was outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today.

• The logistics involved in getting pandemic vaccine out are quite intricate.
• The vaccines will be sent to “immunization providers,” which includes health departments and pharmacies as well as the traditional sites, such as doctors’ offices or hospital clinics.
• The full story reports that the U.S. government bought the vaccine and providers may not charge for the vaccine itself. They are permitted to charge an “administration fee.”
• If all works as hoped, then millions of Americans would have developed immunity by Halloween.
• Earlier, some experts said that they thought the pandemic would “peak” in October. If so, that would not make it unnecessary to get the vaccine. A peak would not equal an end of the pandemic.

The Washington Post

“Pandemic H1N1 influenza vaccine will be distributed on a three-day turnaround time from four regional warehouses around the country next month. The vaccine deliveries, expected to equal 20 million doses a week by the end of October, will be distributed among 90,000 immunization “providers,” including health departments, hospitals, clinics, doctors’ offices and pharmacies.(Emphasis added)

“Those were among the details unveiled Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as part of the federal government’s increasingly complex response to the pandemic of H1N1 influenza, also known as “swine flu.”

“This is a huge logistical process. There’s not [going to be] a sudden appearance of vaccine in 90,000 refrigerators around the country,” said Jay Butler, an epidemiologist heads CDC’s task force on the pandemic vaccine.”

Source: Washington Post, September 18, 2009