Sebelius: Swine flu vaccine ready in Oct.

The swine flu vaccine could be ready early next month — sooner than expected — Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said.

Health care workers and other “high priority groups” could be given the vaccine as early as the the first week of October, Mrs. Sebelius said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.”

The secretary said she is confident that an ample supply of vaccine shots will be available to the general public by mid-October.

“We’ll get the vaccine out the door as fast as it rolls off the production lines,” she said.

Mrs. Sebelius said that development of the vaccine has progressed so well that those taking the drug will have a “robust immune response” within 10 days, not three weeks as earlier predicted. The secretary added that healthy adults will need only one dose.

Mrs. Sebelius’ optimism is a shift from last month, when the government said significant production delays of the vaccine was a concern.