President Barack Obama Declares Swine Flu A U.S. National Emergency

As the United States reels from reportedly millions of Swine Flu cases, and more than 1000 deaths, U.S. President – Barack Obama – has declared swine flu a national emergency. This emergency declaration allows medical officials to temporarily bypass certain federal requirements in order to prevent the country’s health-care resources from being overburdened. It also gives the United States’ health chief the power to let hospitals move emergency rooms off site in order to speed up treatment and protect non-infected patients.

The declaration of this national swine flu emergency, was done on Friday night (October 23), and comes just days after U.S. Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius warned that swine flu vaccine demand was outstripping supply. As Americans wait for more vaccine doses, 46 of the 50 U.S. states have reported an early flu upsurge. The flu season typically peaks in January or February.

Swine flu is now more prevalent than ever before in the U.S., and production delays have undercut the Government’s initial somewhat optimistic estimates that as many as 120,000,000 swine flu vaccine doses would be available by the middle of this month.

According to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, so far, only 11,000,000 swine flu vaccine doses have gone out to doctors’ offices, health departments and health care providers across the U.S.