Swine Flu Threat Still Spreading

Hi Amy,

Thank you for your reply and thank you very much for checking. I realize now there is no typo. In fact, I mistakenly typed in my first response that the health department was not addressing 3-4 year olds with underlying medical conditions when in fact they are leaving out 2 year olds with medical conditions as well.

There does seem to be a disconnect between the CDC panel recommendations and our health department priority list. Below I've attached the CDC recommendations on the priority list, and the web address it is found in.

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr58e0821a1.htm

Subset of Target Groups During Limited Vaccine Availability

Current projections of initial vaccine supply indicate that establishment of a subset of the five initial target groups will not be necessary in most areas. However, demand for vaccination and initial supply might vary considerably across geographic areas. If the supply of the vaccine initially available is not adequate to meet demand for vaccination among the five target groups listed above, ACIP recommends that the following subset of the initial target groups receive priority for vaccination until vaccine availability increases (order of target groups does not indicate priority):

pregnant women

persons who live with or provide care for infants aged <6 months (e.g., parents, siblings, and daycare providers)

health-care and emergency medical services personnel who have direct contact with patients or infectious material

children aged 6 months--4 years

children and adolescents aged 5--18 years who have medical conditions that put them at higher risk for influenza-related complications.

This subset of the five target groups comprises approximately 42 million persons in the United States. Vaccination programs and providers should give priority to this subset of the five target groups only if vaccine availability is too limited to initiate vaccination for all persons in the five initial target groups.

I don't understand how or why our health department is not following the CDC's 6 month- 4 years old recommendation since they are part of the priority group. The 2, 3 and 4 year olds with underlying health conditions are "secondary" to 5-18 year olds with health conditions for the injectable? Am I reading it right? Perhaps there can be some clarity from the HD, that healthy individuals ages 2-49 can receive the flu mist; however, children 2 yrs to 18 yrs with underlying medical conditions are priority for the injectable?

Thank you for attaching the phone number as you can see I have some questions.

I am confused by this paragraph in the article:

The Health Department is offering the injectable vaccine to pregnant women, children ages 5-18 with health conditions and children 6 months through 23 months old. The nasal spray is available to healthy people ages two through 49.

What about children ages 3-4 with health conditions? This group should not get the flu mist and should be able to get the injectable. Where it states "children ages 5-18 with health conditions", is there a typo? Should it read children 3-18 with health conditions?

Thank you.