The availability of H1N1 vaccine is still less than what manufacturers had predicted and what federal health officials had wanted. Still, the 38 million doses currently ready for states to order is 11 million more than what was available a week ago, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“The pace of our progress is picking up,” said Rear Adm. Anne Schuchat, MD, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.

Schuchat stopped short of predicting when the supply of vaccine would be enough to become readily available to the general public.

States, and in some cases municipalities, are responsible for determining how best to distribute limited supplies. In most areas, vaccinations are directed toward those at highest risk of spreading the disease or suffering the worst consequences.

Children remain among the groups most vulnerable. The virus is now blamed for 129 pediatric deaths in the U.S. Approximately two-thirds of these children had underlying neurological or respiratory conditions, Schuchat said.

According to the CDC, influenza activity is “widespread” in 48 states, with 7.7 percent of doctor’s office visits from patients reporting flu-like symptoms. That’s down slightly from last week’s figure of 8 percent. However, federal health officials say it’s too early to say whether H1N1 activity has peaked.

“Flu season can last until May,” Schuchat sait. “So, we really don’t know what trajectory we’ll see with this virus or with the flu season in general.”

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I often wonder, “If I was pregnant, would I get the Swine flu vaccine?” So far, 28 women have died from H1N1. Another 100 have been sent to Intensive Care Units. Not many when compared to the population of the U.S., and the number of women who are pregnant at any given time, but even one death is too many. I wouldn’t want to put myself, or anyone I love in danger of getting a deadly virus that could have been prevented.

Pregnant women, and thousands of others in high risk groups, are waiting in long lines around the country to get the H1N1 vaccine, only to find supplies have run out. In Des Moines, Iowa, there’s now a waiting list for pregnant women so they bypass the lines, and get their shots faster. CDC officials say egg-based vaccine production has been slower than expected, so with demand up, many clinics and health departments are simply running out of supplies.

Health officials continue to warn expectant mothers of the risks of not getting the vaccine, but there are still some women who are skeptical. Many have heard about Thimerosol. It’s a component of some vaccines that contains mercury, blamed by vaccine opponents for causing Autism in children. That’s a claim health professionals say has not been proven through research. In any case, mercury-free seasonal flu vaccine is out there, and CDC officials say it will be available in limited supply for H1N1 Shots, too.

I have a good friend who is six months pregnant, and married to a doctor. Her husband advised her a few weeks ago, to head to her mom’s house in the mountains for a while. A sort of self-inflicted quarantine which she hoped would keep herself and her toddler from becoming infected until vaccines arrived. Now that the shots are here, doctors are being advised to counsel their patients about the potential dangers of foregoing the vaccine. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists released a statement last week urging doctors to talk with pregnant women about the risks not just to themselves, but for unborn children as well. Still, one in four women says they don’t plan on getting vaccinated despite warnings from health officials. Pregnant women are naturally at higher risk of catching all sorts of illnesses due to changes in their immune systems. The risks are higher later in pregnancy as the fetus pushes against the lungs making it more difficult to breathe. Several doctors have told me that deep breaths are necessary to fight off lung infections. So, my answer to the question I posed earlier? Would I get vaccinated? Yes. I will get vaccinated, as soon as H1N1 vaccine supplies are opened up to those of us lucky enough not to be in a high risk group.

“We are getting to the level where it will become significantly easier to find vaccine,” said Thomas Frieden, MD.

The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said, as of today, 22.4 million doses of H1N1 vaccine are available for shipment to providers. While that figure is not as high as public health officials would like, it represents an 8 million dose increase over the amount of vaccine available last week.

“Eventually there will be enough vaccine for all who want to get vaccinated to get vaccinated,” Frieden said.

Frieden said H1N1 activity is actually beginning to decrease in some parts of the country, including Georgia — where the spread of H1N1 got off to a rapid start (likely because of the early beginning of the school year in that state).

And while that may be good news for your Atlanta-based correspondent, the threat of H1N1 is far from over. Cases continue to increase in other parts of the country.

“H1N1 influenza remains widespread throughout the United States,” Frieden said.

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The H1N1 vaccine came out sooner than expected, but in smaller amounts. So vaccination efforts continue to focus on high risk groups.

Just 20 blocks from our FOX News Atlanta Bureau (where I’m writing this blog), Emory University Hospital Midtown is vaccinating pregnant women. And in New York City, public schools are sending students home with parental consent forms for a pediatric vaccine campaign to begin next week.

Most of us outside the high risk groups, however, will likely have to wait well into November before we can get the shots.

In the meantime — many hospitals, local governments and other entities are taking precautions to slow the spread of H1N1, or at least prevent the virus from disrupting operations.

In Minneapolis, Hennepin County Court officials are issuing 20 percent more jury summons than normal. They’re also doubling the number of alternate jurors assigned to trials.

That way, even if some members of the jury pool get sick with H1N1, the trials are likely to proceed on schedule.

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“If I could wave the vaccine magic wand or we could consult the Hogwarts Medical School, we’d have had a vaccine back in May,” said Jay Butler, MD. The director of the CDC’s H1N1 Vaccine Task Force was jokingly referring to the fictitious Hogwarts boarding school of wizardry in J.K. Rowling’s popular Harry Potter book series.

In the real world, the amount of time it took researchers and public health officials to develop and begin distribution of an H1N1 vaccine is on the faster end of the spectrum of what experts had predicted.

“We anticipated that it would probably be six to nine months after a pandemic is identified before a vaccine would actually be available,” Butler said. “Here we are, barely six months into the pandemic, and we’re starting to see vaccine available for administration.”

Today, the first doses of H1N1 vaccine arrived at hospitals in Memphis, Tenn. and Indianapolis, Ind. in the form of a nasal spray.

At these two locations, health care workers are getting vaccinated first. Local health officials said this is to prevent health care workers from getting sick and missing work at a time they are most needed, as well as to reduce the chances of them spreading the virus among hospital patients — who often have weakened immune systems.

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