U.S. government is prone to meet challenges and this stubborn mindset is perceived, at this time too, when the ominous brunt of swine flu has taken the world by storm. The government has come out with a new declaration that it is reserving $1 billion to help companies develop a vaccine against the new strain of H1N1 influenza. Commenting on this U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius made it clear that the fund will be utilized in two ways. While one hand it will endorse clinical studies throughout the summer, on the other hand it will encourage commercial-scale production of vaccine ingredients for the government’s stockpile of drugs and vaccines that is set aside in case of a pandemic of influenza.

“The actions we are taking today will help us be prepared if a vaccine is needed,” Sebelius said in a statement. It is to be noted that the companies approved to sell flu shots in the United States are Sanofi-Aventis SA, Novartis AG, GlaxoSmithKline PLC and CSL Ltd. AstraZeneca unit MedImmune also sells a nasal spray flu vaccine.

“With these funds manufacturers will also prepare pilot lots of potential vaccine for use in clinical studies to determine the proper dose for a vaccine, determine if adjuvants are appropriate and ensure a vaccine is safe and effective,” HHS said in a statement. It also added, “The U.S. government will share as much information as possible from the results of these clinical studies with the World Health Organization and the global community so that other countries can benefit from the U.S. efforts to determine dosage, safety and effectiveness.”

There is hardly any doubt that the initiative is noble and will help the international community considerably but there is a quandary. World Health Organization (WHO) along with experts is yet to state whether there is the need of any vaccine against the new strain of swine flu, which has infected more than 11,000 people in 42 countries, and killed 86.