Up to half of the population of the U.S. could come down with the swine flu and 90,000 could die this season, according to a dire report from the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

The report, which claims as many as 1.8 million people could end up in the hospital seeking treatment for the H1N1 virus, comes as government officials push drug companies to make a vaccine available next month.

“It’s a plausible scenario that we need to be prepared for,” said Marty Cetron, the Center for Disease Control’s director of the Division of Global Migration and Quarantine.

The report says that under a worst-case scenario, between 60 and 120 million Americans could get sick with the swine flu and another 30 million could contract the virus but not show symptoms. Between 30,000 and 90,000 could die — more than twice the annual average of deaths associated with the seasonal flu. Those deaths generally occur in people older than 65.

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