US officials have warned of delays in the delivery of swine flu vaccines just as deaths from the H1N1 virus climb above epidemic level in some states.
Only 28-30 million doses would be available by the end of the month, said Anne Schuchat of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
That was down from an earlier estimate of 40 million.
Swine flu has had an especially strong impact on children, 86 of whom have died this year, Ms Schuchat said.
The number of children who have died so far this year from the H1N1 virus was greater than the number that normally die in an entire flu season, Ms Schuchat said.
Forty-three children are reported to have died from flu since 30 August, with 38 of those confirmed to have been caused by the H1N1 virus.
Half of those deaths were in children aged between 12 and 17.
"These are very sobering statistics," Ms Schuchat said. "Some of these children have been totally healthy."
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