Larry,
The cost differential between the adjuvanted vaccine and the unadjuvanted vaccine is negligible. The squalene adjuvant is not licensed in the U.S. for the normal seasonal vaccine. Since the FDA approved the H1N1 vaccines on the basis of pre-exisiting approvals for seasonal variants, there was no avenue for them to approve the adjuvanted vaccines in the rapid fashion necessary.
In addition, there were clearly political considerations. There is a fear that the inclusion of adjuvants could increase the risk of adverse events to the vaccine, especially autoimmune reactions. While unfounded based on available clinical data, I believe the database of clinical experience with squalene adjuvanted influenza vaccines is only around 20 million people in Europe. Certainly a large sample, but not large enough that there would be some concern that rarer events could emerge with administration in 160 million people as planned for the U.S.
Also, as we have seen with other vaccines administered to large populations, there will inevitably be adverse events that are correlated with administration of the vaccine but that might not be causally related. I think there was a desire on the part of government to minimize the chance of public objection to the vaccine that could emerge if there were publicized scare stories of side effects that (rightly or wrongly) could be attributed to the adjuvant.
It should also be noted in support of this line of thinking that there has already been public resistance to the adjuvanted vaccine in Canada.
