WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – H1N1 swine flu killed an  estimated 3,900 Americans from April to October, including more  than 500 children, U.S. health officials said yesterday.

More complete data and more comprehensive calculations than  previously released now show that, in the first six months of  the pandemic, H1N1 infected an estimated 22 million Americans  and put 98,000 in the hospital, the U.S. Centers for Disease  Control and Prevention said.

Of these totals, children account for 8 million of the  infected, 36,000 of those in hospital and 540 deaths.
“I have already seen a larger number of deaths than we have  had for several years,” the CDC’s Dr. Anne Schuchat told  reporters. “I do believe the pediatric death toll from this  pandemic will be extensive and much greater than what we see  with seasonal flu.”
In an average flu season, about 82 children die in the  United States, the CDC says. But those are lab-confirmed cases,  which Schuchat points out are far lower than the kinds of  estimates released yesterday.

For the first six months of this pandemic, 129 U.S.  children who died had lab-confirmed H1N1 flu.
The CDC said swine flu is causing the worst flu season in  the United States since 1997, when current measurements  started.
“What we are seeing in 2009 is unprecedented,” Schuchat  said. “Influenza is really serious. The vaccines we have are  the best way to protect patients.”

But the vaccines are being produced and distributed slowly.  Schuchat said 41.6 million doses were available or had been  distributed but this is far below what had been expected.

“Last week we did mention that we had been led to expect  about 8 million doses this week,” Schuchat said. “Based on what  we have today, we aren’t expecting to meet that estimate  that the manufacturers gave us.”
Many things can go wrong with flu vaccine production,  Schuchat noted.