WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is considering an unprecedented fall vaccination campaign that could entail giving Americans three flu shots — one to combat annual seasonal influenza and two targeted at the new swine-flu virus spreading across the globe.
The multibillion-dollar effort would represent the first time that top federal health officials have asked Americans to get more than one flu vaccine in a year, raising serious challenges concerning production, distribution and the ability to track potentially severe side effects.
Experts are evaluating a raft of complicated issues, including who ought to receive an inoculation against the H1N1 flu and whether private vaccine makers can simultaneously manufacture the standard 180 million doses as well as up to 600 million rounds of the new vaccine.
“We are moving forward with making a vaccine,” said Robin Robinson, a director with the Department of Health and Human Services who oversees pandemic-response programs.
Meanwhile, Mexico emerged from its swine-flu isolation Tuesday as thousands of newspaper vendors, salesmen hawking trinkets and even panhandlers dropped their protective masks and joined the familiar din of traffic horns and blaring music on the streets of the capital.
There were still signs, however, of the virus that set off world health alarms. A Texas woman who lived near a popular border crossing was confirmed as the second outside Mexico and the first U.S. resident to die after contracting the virus. Mexico’s Health Department later announced three more confirmed deaths, raising the country’s total to 29.
The Texas woman, the second confirmed person to die with swine flu in the U.S., lived not far from the Mexico border and had chronic medical conditions, as did the Mexico City toddler who died of swine flu last week during a visit to Houston, health officials said.
The 33-year-old woman was pregnant and delivered a healthy baby while hospitalized, said Leonel Lopez, Cameron County epidemiologist. She was a teacher in the Mercedes Independent School District, which announced it would close its schools until Monday.
With 942 people sickened in Mexico at last count, public celebrations of Cinco de Mayo were banned.
Denver’s annual festival, which typically draws 400,000, will be held as planned this weekend, with hand-sanitation stations installed at the urging of city health officials. In Chicago, the Mexican Civic Society of Illinois canceled its annual festivities because of flu concerns.
The H1N1 flu has sickened more than 1,700 people in 21 countries, including more than 600 in the United States. The World Health Organization said it was shipping 2.4 million treatments of anti-flu drugs to 72 countries “most in need,” and France sent 100,000 doses of anti-flu drugs worth $1.7 million to Mexico.
Mexican Finance Secretary Agustin Carstens unveiled plans Tuesday to stimulate key industries and fight foreign bans on Mexican pork products. He said persuading tourists to come back will be a top priority.
Carstens said the outbreak cost Mexico’s economy at least $2.2 billion, and he announced a $1.3 billion stimulus package, mostly for tourism and small businesses, the sectors hardest hit by the epidemic.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said he will ask governments to reverse trade and travel restrictions lacking a clear scientific basis.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
