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Flu Shot Shortage: What Can You Do?

They're also advocating a low-tech approach to preventing infection: frequent hand-washing.

Meanwhile, top flu experts are proposing that available vaccines could potentially be diluted to partially meet the needs of healthy Americans, with the thinking that a weakened vaccine is better than none at all.

The scramble for solutions followed Tuesday's announcement that British health officials had suspended the license for a Chiron Corp. factory outside Liverpool that makes all the company's vaccine for the U.S. market. Chiron was expected to ship as many as 48 million doses here, beginning this month. A second company, Aventis Pasteur, makes another 54 million doses, and has reported no problems.