This was supposed to work better than this. President Obama noted months ago that the swine flu posed a serious threat to the country, both in terms of its psychological impact and its actual effect. He pledged not to be caught flatfooted.

Yet the manufacture and distribution of vaccine has been beset by problems. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius urges patience and says the government will learn from these problems. But how many times does Washington need to relearn the same things?

The actual effect thus far is sobering, not only in terms of raw numbers, but in who is contracting the H1N1 virus. According to updated figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 22 million Americans have become ill with the H1N1 influenza in the past six months and 3,900 have died.

While a typical flu season contributes to the deaths of about 36,000 people, the vast majority of them are 65 or older, and many are already close to death. But most victims of the swine flu are much younger, and as many as 30 percent were healthy when they contracted it.

Obama was right to be concerned. The swine flu has hit Western New York schools hard in the past several weeks.

Yet, as recently as last week, swine flu vaccine was in short supply for local physicians. At last count, 400,000 doses of the vaccine had been requested for health care providers, but only 61,000 had been delivered—a miserable fulfillment rate of just 15 percent. Nationally, about 40 percent of American parents have tried to get their children vaccinated, but only one in three succeeded. High-risk adults had no better luck.

The vaccine itself was developed in quick order—“a triumph of medical science,” according to Dr. Steven J. Lana, a Buffalo pediatrician and part-time medical director of the Buffalo Public Schools. Yet there have been problems with manufacture and even with distribution. “There’s no rhyme, reason or order to the distribution,” he said. “It’s chaotic.” Thus, the triumph of medical science is, instead, “a major public health failure.”

Medical officials hope this second wave of swine flu is nearing its end, but they are not counting out a third wave. Washington should view this as a medical interregnum—a breather to sort this problem out. Americans should not have to risk death because we can’t make enough of something we know how to make and then get it where it needs to be. That’s not too much to ask.