photo: Madmoiselle Lavender ♥/ BY-NC-SA

According to the San Francisco chronicle, swine flu vaccine production is being delayed due to the vaccine taking longer to reproduce than other vaccines. For months, the U.S. CDC said that 50 million doses of the vaccine would be available by mid-October, but only 13 million doses have been delivered. Since the supply of the swine vaccine is limited, only high priority groups are being offered the vaccine, such as health care and emergency workers, pregnant women, caregivers of infants younger than 6 months, young people ages 6 months to 24 years, and chronic health patients younger than 65 years of age.

Although no one knows when to expect the vaccine, public health officials in San Francisco are planning to set up flu shot clinics within 48 hours of receiving the vaccine. Lack of swine flu vaccines could lead to rioting due to its widespread media coverage. The whole situation feels a bit like it has been blown out of proportion, considering the fact that many people who contract the swine flu recover fully and aren’t at risk of infecting others.