CDC H1N1 Vaccine Priorities

The following is quoted from the CDC update on H1N1 vaccine recommendations.

Recommended Target Groups

• Pregnant women,

• household contacts of children who are younger than 6 months of age,
• healthcare workers and emergency medical services personnel,
• children and young people between the ages of 6 months and 24 years of age, and
• nonelderly adults with underlying risk conditions or medical conditions that increase their risk for complications from influenza.

The committee also addressed the issue of what to do in the event of a vaccine shortage and how to prioritize those groups who should receive the vaccine.

"In general, under most circumstances, we really ought to promote vaccine in all of these 5 focus groups, and...picking them or prioritizing some before others would not benefit the public," Dr. Schuchat said. The CDC's estimate of the target groups totals 159 million individuals, but "there's a lot of overlap in some of the groups...[it is] probably a lower number than that," she said.

"Just in Case" Prioritization Group

However, the Advisory Committee of Immunization Practices also proposed a priority group consisting of a much smaller group, about 41 million individuals, that should be vaccinated in the event of a shortage. These include

• Pregnant women,
• household contacts of children who are younger than 6 months of age,
• healthcare workers and emergency services personnel who have direct patient contact or direct contact with infectious substances,
• children between the ages of 6 months and 4 years of age, and
• children 5 to18 years of age who have underlying risk factors that put them at greater risk for complications of influenza.