ATLANTA — The first doses of swine-flu vaccine might all be the nasal-spray version, government health officials said Friday.
The government has said a trickle of vaccine will be available early next month, and on Friday, officials defined the size of that trickle — an estimated 3.4 million doses.
Currently, it appears that all of those will be a nasal-spray vaccine that is approved only for healthy people ages 2 to 49, said Dr. Jay Butler of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The nasal spray, called FluMist, is not recommended for some of those most in danger of severe swine-flu complications. That includes pregnant women, children younger than 2, and those with asthma and other chronic respiratory diseases.
However, it is possible that some vaccine shots will become available by the first week of October as well, said Butler, chief of the CDC’s task force on swine-flu vaccines.
Flu shots are made of killed influenza virus, while FluMist is a live but weakened strain.
The initial vaccine doses will go to up to 90,000 sites — including schools and clinics — across the country. State health departments will determine which offices and clinics get the shots and whether health care workers or others get the first doses, Butler said at a CDC news conference Friday.
The government has ordered 195 million doses and could order more if there is enough demand.
