US Draft Report on Bird Flu Vaccination for Key Workers

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US Draft Report on Bird Flu Vaccination for Key Workers

A draft report authored by a group of federal agencies essentially asks the question, who should be first in line. This is mostly common sense but it forces people to address the issue in a mature and informed manner.

Effective allocation of vaccines will play a critical role in preventing influenza and reducing its effects on health and society when a pandemic arrives. The specific type of influenza that causes a pandemic will not be known until it occurs.

Developing a new vaccine in response will take several months and pandemic vaccine may not be available when cases first occur in the United States. Moreover, once vaccine production begins, it will not be possible to make enough new vaccine to protect everyone in the early stages of a pandemic.

General guidance of the working group includes the following:

The need to target vaccine to maintain security, health care, and essential services will depend on how severe the pandemic is, as rates of absenteeism and the ability to supply essential products and services will differ between more and less severe pandemics. As a result, groups targeted for earlier vaccination will differ by pandemic severity.
Allocation of pandemic vaccines to States will be in proportion to the State's population.
Whereas States should follow the national guidance, they will have some flexibility in defining the target groups and implementing the guidance to best fit their local situations.
Within the parameters of the guidance, a small proportion of each State's vaccine allocation may be maintained at the State level for distribution based on the specific needs of that jurisdiction.
In past pandemics, groups at increased risk for serious illness and death have differed by age and health status. Because the high-risk groups in the next pandemic are not known, this guidance will be reassessed and may be modified at the time of the pandemic.
Guidance on pandemic vaccine allocation and targeting will be re-assessed periodically to consider the potential impacts of new scientific advances, changes in vaccine production capacity, and advances in other medical and public health measures.

People will be able to submit comments on the draft plan for vaccine allocations online

http://pandemicflu.gov/vaccine/prioritization.html