Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3
Anchor Marco Werman speaks to Dr. Jay Butler, director of the 2009 Influenza Vaccine Task force at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for a US perspective on the H1N1 flu vaccine.

Read the Transcript
This text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

MARCO WERMAN: I’m Marco Werman and this is The World, a co-production of the BBC World Service, PRI and WGBH Boston.  Across the United States and around the world, vaccines for the H1N1 swine flu virus are starting to reach patients.  It’s been just over half a year since the first cases of swine flu turned up in Mexico, sparking concerns of a killer pandemic.  The pandemic has materialized, but it’s not as deadly as originally feared. And now that the vaccine is available, a large number of people are declining to get it. In a few minutes, we’ll hear about medical professionals in Europe who are not recommending the vaccine to many patients.  But we begin with the view in the United States.  Dr. Jay Butler is with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  He directs the CDC’s 2009 Influenza Vaccine Task Force.  He joins us from Atlanta.  Dr. Butler, what is the CDC position?  Who should get the new H1N1 swine flu vaccine?

DR. BUTLER: Well, the recommendations for use of the vaccine in the United States really focus on the five groups that seem to be the most heavily impacted by the virus.  That’s children age six months through 24 years.  That includes college age persons.  Adults with underlying illnesses age 25 through 65, pregnant women, people who live with or care for infants too young to be vaccinated, that is younger than six months of age.  And health care workers who haven’t necessarily been at higher risk of infection but are at risk of transmitting this influenza virus just as they can be at risk of transmitting seasonal influenza viruses.

WERMAN: So you and the CDC maintain that healthy adults don’t need the vaccine?

DR. BUTLER: Well, they’re much lower on the priority list.  The vaccine is available.  It’s a voluntary program, and certainly one of our biggest challenges is having enough vaccine for people who desire to be vaccinated.

WERMAN: Now, as far as the virus itself, there is a perception that the H1N1 virus is relatively mild, at least when it infects healthy individuals.  And a recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that the vast majority of people hospitalized with the illness had actually underlying conditions. Does it really pose a threat to otherwise healthy people?

DR. BUTLER: Well, certainly the greatest misnomer in all of medicine is it’s just the flu and H1N1 is also under appreciated just as seasonal flu is.  We’ve had dozens of deaths in children in the United States already, and 20 to 30% of those deaths have occurred in kids who were otherwise completely healthy.  It’s important to remember that deaths are just a tip of the iceberg.  We hear a number of reports of intensive care units with several kids who are on ventilators, or echlo [PH] devices, life support, really fighting for their lives against infection with H1N1.  Pregnant women are of particular concern.  Over 6% of all the deaths in the United States related to H1N1 infection have occurred in pregnant women even though at any given time only about 1% of the population is pregnant.

WERMAN: So where do things stand with the vaccine rollout in this country?  How many doses are now available, how many will be available and do you think you’ll have enough to vaccinate everyone who wants it?

DR. BUTLER: Well over 10 million doses of vaccine have been made available, and must of that has been distributed already.  Additional vaccine becomes available each day.  So far, about half of that vaccine is in the mist form that is applied as a spray to the nose, and about half is injectable form.

WERMAN: Okay, Jay Butler, Director of the CDC’s 2009 Influenza Vaccine Task Force.  Thanks very much for your time.

DR. BUTLER: Well, thank you very much.

Copyright ©2009 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.