.S. vaccine supply could be limited in flu pandemi

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Most influenza vaccines for Americans are manufactured in other countries -- a scenario that could limit U.S. supplies should a swine flu vaccine be needed in the coming months.U.S. government officials have taken steps in recent years to promote more production on U.S. soil by a diverse group of companies, but those efforts are far from complete.If the current strain of swine flu turned into a pandemic, some health experts worry countries might try to reserve flu vaccine for their own citizens."If this thing goes global, our lack of capacity makes it very hard," said former U.S. Health and Human Services Deputy Secretary Tevi Troy, who worked on flu preparedness efforts in the George W. Bush administration."One of the things we were worried about is what if European governments say 'Hey, I know you've got a contract with the U.S. government, but we're going to nationalize our capacity.' That is a concern," said Troy, now a visiting senior fellow at the Hudson Institute.But other experts say U.S. capacity has greatly improved in recent years.Global health officials are debating whether to ask manufacturers to mass-produce a vaccine to fight the H1N1 strain of swine flu that has killed dozens of people in Mexico plus a Mexican boy who was brought to the United States for treatment.Infections have been found in the United States, New Zealand, Israel, Canada and Spain.MONTHS TO MAKEManufacturers have taken initial steps, but it would require months to make a vaccine to fight the new strain.An immunization against a pandemic virus "will probably be the most highly sought-after product on the face of the earth," said Mike Osterholm, director of the Minnesota-based Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy."In the face of a pandemic, it's hard to imagine any country willingly letting vaccine leave from within its border to another country just because there's a contract" with the U.S. government, he said.The precarious situation was highlighted in 2004 when a British flu vaccine plant was contaminated, wiping out half the U.S. supply for that year.The Bush administration in 2006 gave $1 billion to five companies to modernize production of vaccines and make them in the United States. The goal was to establish enough domestic capacity to supply vaccine within six months of the start of a pandemic to the entire U.S. population of about 300 million.