But how those shots should be given isn't entirely clear. Federal health officials said Monday that children can receive both the seasonal flu shot and the swine flu inoculation on the same day. But if they receive the Flu Mist, which is inhaled and contains a live form of the virus, then getting both types of vaccine on the same day won't "take," according to Anne Schuchat, the director of the National Center for Immunization & Respiratory Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Another NIH trial designed to look at the timing of when to give the two flu vaccines is not expected to produce results until sometime in November.
Officials are urging parents to have their children vaccinated now for the seasonal flu - that vaccine became available last month - and to immunize them against the H1N1 virus once the swine flu vaccine arrives, likely in the beginning of October.
"Seasonal flu vaccine is available and those who fall under recommendations should get that now and not worry about subsequent data that we are trying to collect," Fauci said.
Dr. Felix L. Kaufman, a pediatrican in Towson, said parents of babies are accustomed to a rigorous vaccination schedule and tend to view the flu shots as just one more added to the mix. "They aren't really looking at it in terms of four more shots," he said.
In fact, parents have been anxious to get their children vaccinated against the H1N1 virus and are often peppering him with questions on when the vaccine will be ready, he said. Kaufman asked the state health department for 2,000 doses for his large practice of about 9,000. He was told that his office could receive 400 doses by sometime in October and more would be available later.
"The swine flu has taken a lot more importance because of the media attention," he said. "Parents perceive that as a separate issue and they are asking a lot of specific questions."
Last week, the Food and Drug Administration approved four vaccines against the pandemic that has killed more than 593 people nationwide - at least 46 of them children - and sickened more than a million since outbreaks began in the spring. Experts have estimated that as many as half of Americans could come down with swine flu; up to 90,000 could die.
