Washington - A vaccine for swine flu should be available by mid-October, US health officials said Thursday as the government held a summit with local officials to plan for a renewed outbreak during the autumn flu season. The vaccine could be ready for testing in August. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said the government would on Friday begin handing out 350 million dollars to states and local communities to help combat swine flu, or the A-H1N1 virus.
"The most important thing for us to do in this process is to make sure that state and local officials prepare now to implement a vaccination programme" in the autumn, President Barack Obama told the summit by telephone from the G8 gathering in Italy.
The United States has reported 33,902 cases of swine flu and 170 deaths since April, according to the latest count of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
Nearly 100,000 cases have been reported in more than 70 countries around the world, including 429 deaths, according to the World Health Organization.
