As Swine Flu Wanes, So Does Public's Fear

Dec. 23 -- TUESDAY, Dec. 22 (HealthDay News) -- The good news on the H1N1 swine flu front is that the number of cases of infection continues to decrease and the vaccine supply is now plentiful.

The discouraging news is that too few people are getting inoculated, a top U.S. health official said Tuesday.

"The H1N1 vaccine supply is getting better and better," Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said during an afternoon press conference.

While cases of swine flu infection continue to diminish around the country, the H1N1 virus is still the dominant flu strain, Schuchat said. "Disease is at a better state around the country, less virus is circulating," she said. "But still everything we are seeing in terms of the flu strains is the H1N1 virus. So it's not gone at all."

There's no way to predict whether there will be a resurgence of swine flu, which peaked nationwide in early November with 48 states reporting widespread activity.

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So, "it is important to not become complacent about the ongoing risk of H1N1 influenza," Schuchat stated.

Schuchat said an estimated 111 million doses of H1N1 vaccine have been distributed so far. A CDC survey done two weeks ago found that about 46 million people had received the vaccine, with approximately 40 percent of the doses going to children, she said.

"Coverage was about twice as high in children as it was in adults," she said. "That's really good news because usually with seasonal flu there's a lot more vaccination of adults, including seniors, than children. But with the H1N1 vaccine we were targeting children because they have been so hard hit by the virus."

Unlike seasonal flu, which typically poses a much bigger threat to people aged 65 and older, the swine flu has been targeting children and young adults, probably because they have little or no immunity to the H1N1 virus, which was last seen on a pandemic level more than 50 years ago.