America discovers socialised medicine

Faced with a shortage of flu vaccines this winter, the USA's faith in leaving health care to the market seems to be weakening somewhat:

[WSJ, subs. req'd] All the flu vaccine in Connecticut belongs to the private sector, and long-term-care facilities and hospitals are among those without shots.
By the end of last week, some states had moved to assert greater control of the flu-vaccine supply. California state health officials Friday issued a public-health order for all health-care providers to limit flu shots to those at highest risk. New Mexico, which had ordered its entire supply for older children and adults from Chiron [UK company shut down by British regulators], issued a similar order.

To belabour the obvious, what's the difference between America's usual approach of allocating health care to those with the means to have health insurance, and allocating flu vaccine to those most able to pay for it?

UPDATE [12 Oct]: The flu vaccine crisis produces a flip-flop from the Bush administration on the question of pharmacy imports; now they're in favour:

The [US] government is also looking for supplies from abroad. A spokesman for GlaxoSmithKline, a British company that sells a flu vaccine in 70 countries, said yesterday that it was "working with the F.D.A." to negotiate a way to bring the vaccine to the United States. Anthony F. Holler, chief executive of ID Biomedical, which sells a vaccine in Canada, said his company had been contacted by federal authorities.