Swine flu vaccines under development by drugmakers may not provide immunity until the last week of November, too late to hold off outbreaks triggered by infected students returning to schools in the U.S. and Europe.

“It’s apparent that the vaccine availability is going to be delayed, and that the number of doses available is going to be less,” said Gregory A. Poland, head of the vaccine research group at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, in an Aug. 14 telephone interview. “Right now they are getting yields of about 50 percent roughly of what they expected.”

Bloomberg by Tom Randall, 08/19/2009

Tags: H1N1, Infectious Diseases, swine flu, Uncategorized