Panel urges some swine flu vaccine next month

WASHINGTON (AP) — The government should speed availability of at least a little swine flu vaccine next month instead of in October, the president’s scientific advisers recommended today.

The report also urges that federal health officials do more social networking to put the young people targeted by the virus on notice; clarify who should use anti-flu drugs and how; and improve tracking of the fast-moving virus.

The Obama administration said it already is taking many of the steps recommended in the 68-page report from the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, a group of leading scientists.

For example, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta expects to issue revised flu treatment guidelines by month’s end. It reports more than 300,000 followers of its emergency Twitter, up from 30,000 when swine flu first struck in the spring.