Washington, July 10: Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius says that a vaccine for swine flu should be available by mid-October.
The announcement came after the government renewed plans for an outbreak during the fall flu season. The vaccine could be ready for testing in August.
Sebelius added that the government would on Friday begin to hand out USD 350 million to states and local communities to help combat the A-H1N1 virus, DPA reported on Thursday.
“The most important thing for us to do in this process is to make sure that state and local officials prepare now to implement a vaccination program” in the autumn, said President Barack Obama who is now in Italy for a G8 summit.
The United States has reported 33,902 cases of swine flu and 170 deaths since April, according to the latest count of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Nearly 100,000 cases have been reported in more than 70 countries around the world, including 429 deaths, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
—–Agencies