40,000 Doses of swine flu vaccine still available in Uruguay

Uruguayan Deputy Public Health Minister Cristina Lustemberg announced Monday that there are still 40,000 doses of the vaccine against swine flu out of the half million that have already been purchased available, with another 100,000 doses scheduled to arrive within the next two weeks.

“Today, we still have about 40,000 doses. We’re also seeing that there are provinces where no doses remain at the public and private health centers,” said the official at a Montevideo press conference.

She added that the Public Health Ministry is engaged in a joint effort with the Antituberculosis Commission to identify the specific regions and areas where no vaccine is available.

“The new batch arrives in two weeks. We’re completing the procedures, such as purchase orders, for the provider, who is in France. ... But we have 100,000 doses guaranteed,” she said.

Lustemberg added that in the places where there is still available vaccine emphasis is being placed on vaccinating the “risk populations,” including pregnant women, the elderly and children under age five.

The official said that to date 390 people have been admitted to intensive health treatment centers in Uruguay, 61 of them with acute respiratory infections, of which about 70 percent are linked to the Type A H1N1 swine flu strain.