Oct. 27 (Bloomberg) -- The swine flu vaccine shortage is boosting demand from Americans concerned they won’t get the product in time to hold off the disease, said Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The amount available to doctors and clinics starting this week will have risen to 22.4 million doses from about 14 million on Oct. 21, Frieden said today. The supply is still smaller than needed, he said. A U.S. health official has blamed the shortage on production delays at two drugmakers, and one manufacturer’s failure to gain regulatory approval for its product.

President Barack Obama declared swine flu a national emergency Oct. 24. The disease, also known as H1N1 influenza, is widespread across the country and accounts for 411 confirmed deaths and more than 8,200 hospitalizations since Aug. 30, according to the Atlanta-based CDC. Frieden didn’t update the numbers of infected during today’s call.

“We are currently in a situation where we have too little vaccine in the community,” Frieden said during a conference call with reporters. “It’s quite likely that too little vaccine is one of the things that’s making people more interested in getting vaccinated.”

Health officials said last week the U.S. won’t get the 195 million doses it had planned for by the end of the year. Americans may get 42 million doses by mid-November, 8 million less than earlier U.S. estimates, said Nicole Lurie, Health and Human Services assistant secretary for preparedness and response, in an Oct. 23 telephone interview. Lurie linked the shortage to production delays.

Greater Demand

“When we have shortages we see an increase in demand,” Frieden said today. “In the next week or so, there will be a significant increase in the perceived and real availability of vaccine.”

Frieden said medical authorities still recommend the vaccine be given first to people most at risk of severe infection from swine flu.

Children and young adults ages 6 months to 24 years, pregnant women, those with underlying medical conditions and health-care workers are most at risk according to the CDC. ‘Many millions’ of H1N1 cases have occurred in the U.S. since the outbreak began in April, he said Oct. 23.

“We wish we had better technology that could produce vaccine in weeks or months, rather than the six to nine months it takes with current, tried-and-true technology,” Frieden said. “It’s challenging with a limited amount of vaccine for a lot of people who want to get vaccinated.”

Similar Symptoms

While H1N1 produces similar symptoms and outcomes as seasonal flu in most cases, it targets a younger population and can lead to severe illness and death. The seasonal flu kills about 36,000 people a year in the U.S., though the majority of those deaths are in people over the age of 80.

Ninety-five children have died from confirmed swine flu since April 2009, more than the pediatric toll for a typical year of influenza, the CDC said on its Web site, which tracks deaths from 28 states that provide data.

To contact the reporter on this story: Meg Tirrell in New York at mtirrell@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: October 27, 2009 15:21 EDT