Congress questions vaccine shortage

WASHINGTON (NBC) - With nearly 4,000 swine flu deaths so far in the U.S. Congress wants to know, are terror suspects getting the vaccine first, before students, pregnant women, and sick Americans? A key health official did a 180 when pressed on that Wednesday.

"It's been like playing 'Where's Waldo?' trying to find out who has it," said republican Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee.

Lawmakers want to know if terror suspects are getting swine flu vaccine first while Americans stand in long lines?

"When this government has enough vaccine for Guantanamo Bay, but not enough for Grandma Kay, we have a problem," said Georgia republican Congressman Phil Gingrey.

"There's no vaccine on its way to Gitmo," said Dr. Nicole Lurie of the Department of Health & Human Services.

She later admitted that she did not have personal knowledge of vaccines going to Guantanamo Bay.

Lawmakers also want to know why the FDA hasn't approved adjuvanted vaccine. Adjuvant stretches vaccine, creating more. Canada, Asia and Europe all use it.

"We could've quadrupled our supply and taken care of our short supply if we weren't so short-sighted in this," said democratic Congressman Bart Stupak of Michigan.

The government says it didn't want to try something new in the middle of a pandemic.

"Public confidence is very, very fragile. We made a commitment not to cut corners," Lurie said.

Four of the five companies that make our vaccine do so overseas. The government now admits it knew some of those countries' orders would be filled first. But America’s biggest manufacturer says its Pennsylvania plants are working overtime.

"They're operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with more than 2,000 people dedicated to getting vaccine out the door," said Sanofi Pasteur’s Phillip Hosbach.

With almost 50 million doses ready, it is coming faster, but not fast enough.

Lawmakers worry that if a more deadly virus hits in the future, the U.S. won't be able to get vaccine out fast enough to prevent massive deaths.

Click here to compare the symptoms for the swine flu, the seasonal flu, and the common cold.