U.S. pledges $8.5 billion for fall swine flu shots

[efoods]Vaccinations against swine flu are likely and probably will begin in mid-October, assuming soon-to-start studies go well.

The government will fully pay for any autumn vaccination program against the new H1N1 swine flu, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said on Thursday.

“We have already appropriated about a billion dollars to buy the bulk ingredients,” Sebelius told a swine flu “summit” of state and local leaders at the National Institutes of Health.

She said another $7.5 billion was available from emergency preparedness funds.

President Barack Obama telephoned the NIH all the way from Italy Thursday to tell a meeting of 500 flu officials not to promote panic — but to make sure “we are promoting vigilance and preparation.”

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