Costly proposition: Not only is it very expensive to make vaccines -- on average it costs about $700 million to bring a vaccine to market -- but 60% of the costs are also "fixed costs." So if the H1N1 outbreak is contained quickly, or if experts made the wrong guess on the predicted seasonal flu, the manufacturers are stuck with an oversupply.
"If the CDC picked a wrong strain of a virus then the vaccine could be entirely worthless and the manufacturers can't recoup their costs," Herrick said.
Although President Obama has asked Congress for an additional $1.5 billion to fight the H1N1 outbreak, Herrick said he's not sure if that's enough to also fund the sizeable quantity of vaccine production that a pandemic would require.
What might allay industry concerns, he said, is if the Food and Drug Administration were to fast-track approval for cell-based technology to manufacture the H1N1 vaccine and also guarantee vaccine makers a market for their finished product.
Since no vaccines will be immediately available for H1N1, health experts advised people to follow common sense precautions to mitigate their risk of exposure to the flu.
"Wash your hands frequently, wear a mask if you are around an infected person or area and stay home if you're not feeling well, said Dr. James Koopman, professor of Epidemiology at University of Michigan's School of Public Health
In the meantime, the CDC said it has stockpiled antiviral drugs Tamiflu and Relenza for the treatment and prevention of the H1N1 virus.
However, the agency has recommended that the two prescription drugs currently be given to "confirmed, probable or suspected cases" of the H1N1 virus infection.
Koopman said the public policy on the antiviral medication should be to make it available to everybody, and not just to high-risk individuals.
"There's a trade-off in deciding what to do and when," he said. "It should not just be a containment strategy, but a mitigating strategy to delay the onset of the fall outbreak of the virus."
Experts say the U.S. will likely have the H1N1 vaccine ready should there be a second outbreak of the virus in the fall.
First Published: April 30, 2009: 4:18 PM ET