ATLANTA, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- U.S. public health officials Friday said despite one drug maker's production problems, there would be enough vaccine available come flu season this fall.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Julie Gerberding told reporters Chiron Corp. of California, which said its vaccine would be delayed until October, only has half of the flu vaccine market.
"Actually we'll end up having more vaccine doses than we've ever had before," Gerberding told a teleconference. "We're expecting more than 100 million doses of vaccine this year."
She said Chiron has identified the source of sterility problems at its manufacturing plant and expects to fix the problem and get the Fluvirin vaccine batches out to healthcare providers.
John Lambert, president of Chiron Vaccines, Thursday said, "We currently expect Fluvirin doses to be available in early October, in time to meet public health needs for this influenza season, and we expect to provide even more Fluvirin doses this season than last season."
Aventis Pasteur Friday said it expects to have more than 52 million doses of its Fluzone flu vaccine ready this year -- 9 million more than last year -- making it the largest U.S. production ever by a single manufacturer.
