WASHINGTON, Nov 3 (Reuters) - The White House denied on Tuesday that any H1N1 flu vaccine was going to terrorism suspects held at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba, heading off a controversy over swine flu prevention priorities. "There is no vaccine in Guantanamo and there's no vaccine on the way to Guantanamo," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said at his daily briefing. Americans have been lining up for the vaccine to protect against the H1N1 swine flu virus, which has killed at least 1,000 Americans and infected an estimated 5 million. Given a shortage of the vaccine, clinics have restricted its distribution to those in high-risk groups, but even many of those have been unable to receive it. A Department of Defense spokesman had said the vaccine would be offered to about 200 Guantanamo detainees, prompting criticism from some conservative politicians and commentators. "I don't know what the Pentagon said. I know in asking yesterday whether or not there was any vaccine there, or whether there was any vaccine that was on its way, the answer to both those questions was no," Gibbs said. The United States has ordered up to 250 million doses of H1N1 vaccine from five companies -- MedImmune, a unit of AstraZeneca <AZN.L>, Sanofi-Aventis <SASY.PA>, Australia's CSL <CSL.AX>, GlaxoSmithKline <GSK.L> and Novartis <NOVN.VX>. (Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; editing by Todd Eastham)
Ukrainian border guards wearing protective masks control vehicles at a checkpoint at the Ukrainian-Polish border in Rava-Ruska November 3, 2009. Ukraine closed schools and banned public meetings including election rallies and ...
