People likely to rush for swine flu vaccine: Poll

The findings of the survey also suggest that a vast majority (three-forth) of the parents intend to get the vaccine for their children as well.

The findings of the current survey contradict with the one conducted and published by the Consumer Reports earlier this week. The latter survey had suggested that merely 35 percent of the American parents would have their children vaccinated.

The Harvard survey polled more than 1000 U.S. adults. The group was termed as representative of national population.

Harvard's Robert Blendon, who led the latest survey said, “These findings suggest that public health officials need to be prepared for a surge in demand for the H1N1 vaccine if the H1N1 flu becomes more severe.”

The poll revealed that the number of people willing to get a swine flu vaccine were more than the number of people who got themselves vaccinated against the seasonal flu every year.

Vaccine safe for kids
Sixty percent of those who said no to the vaccine for the children were apprehensive about any adverse side-affects or illnesses from the vaccine.

Anne Schuchat of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases tried to placate the fears.

"The H1N1 vaccine is being produced exactly the same way the seasonal flu vaccines were produced with exactly the same oversight. We've gone an additional step with that and are doing extra clinical trails, and those clinical trails so far have not found any red flags in terms of safety," said Schuchat.

"It's 1,000 times safer than getting the flu," said John Bartlett, director of the Center for Civilian Biodefense Strategies at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.

Orders placed by U.S. government
The U.S. government has already placed orders for the vaccine from Sanofi-Aventis, CSL, AstraZeneca, Novartis and GlaxoSmithKline. In all, the administration will procure 250 million doses from these companies.

The U.S. administration intends to provide the vaccine to the general public free of cost. The clinics and retailers may, however, take some charges for the administration of the vaccine.

The CDC has already urged people with underlying medical conditions, pregnant women and very young children to get them vaccinated against the highly contagious influenza.

Experts aver that only one in 100 healthy people with swine flu will land in an intensive care unit (ICU) and would need a respirator. The only way to not be that one patient is to get the vaccine.