Wednesday 5 August 2009

H1N1...

Just received the weekly newsletter from BabyCenter and it was about H1N1.

Pregnant women, kids, parents first in line for swine flu vaccine

Wed, Jul 29, 2009 (HealthDay News) -- Women who are pregnant, children six months and older, and health care workers should all get top priority when the H1N1 swine flu vaccine arrives this fall, a U.S. government advisory panel recommended late Wednesday.


Added to that list of first-line recipients are parents and caregivers of infants; non-elderly adults with risky medical problems, and young adults aged 19 to 24
, according to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, part of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The panel met Wednesday in Atlanta to review data for setting swine flu vaccine priorities.


"The committee recommended five target groups for the initial focus for immunization," Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said at a late-afternoon press conference Wednesday. "These are groups that had higher risk of disease, who had greater burden of complications."


Should there be a shortage of vaccine, the panel still recommended that all the groups be targeted, Schuchat added. "If the supplies are really limited, the committee came up with a 'first-in-line' scheme," Schuchat said. "But our real operating assumption is that we will go forward with the broader group."

Schuchat added that it was likely that people will need two shots of the H1N1 vaccine to be protected. "We are on track, expecting vaccine doses in the fall," she said. "Exactly how many, exactly when will be tough to pinpoint, but we have a lot of planning assumptions that we are working around."

Clinical trials of candidate H1N1 vaccines are set to begin soon, and the CDC estimates that about 120 million doses will be available this fall.
The groups included in Wednesday's recommendations together total 150 million Americans, according to the Associated Press.

However, health officials don't expect that all those people will get the vaccine. For example, only 15 percent of Americans typically get a seasonal flu shot, according to the AP.
According to the panelists, if ample vaccine does become available, all non-elderly adults should be urged to get a shot. The advisory panel's recommendations followed findings that H1N1 has appeared to hit pregnant women especially hard.

A study released Tuesday in The Lancet showed that pregnant women who contracted swine flu were four times more likely to be hospitalized than non-pregnant women. Meanwhile, the elderly, who may have gained some immunity to swine flu from mid-20th century exposures, appear to be less affected than younger adults. The elderly are advised to get a vaccine for the regular seasonal flu, however, because they remain highly vulnerable to that virus, the panel said. -- Steve Reinberg




I surfed and checked whether our country is adopting the same priorities when it comes to giving the antiviral to the flu victims. Below are some of the sites I found, with the excerpts from the articles...


Anti-viral treatment for high-risk groups - "High-risk groups, including children and pregnant women, must be given anti-viral treatment if they go to hospitals with influenza-like symptoms."


A(H1N1) Death Toll Rises To Eight - "He urged doctors to be alert of patients with flu-like symptoms and severe pneumonia especially high risk individuals such as the obese, pregnant women, diabetics, chronic respiratory cases and those with low immunity."



I pray that this disease will cease soon...



4 comments:

Mark said...

Hi Jenny,

Is the vaccine really on schedule? I thought earlier on they said it'd be ready by July...

Wonder how long before it's available in Malaysia.

In the nursery where I work in the UK, swine flu's already making it's rounds among staff and kids...no deaths thankfully, but it's pretty scary. Especially when they try and sweep it under the carpet!

Regards
Mark
http://earlychildcare.wordpress.com/

I'm a full-time mummy said...

Hi Mark,

Honestly, I have no idea when the vaccines will be ready... I received an email (circulated by a mum-to-be) the vaccines will reach MY somewhere in Nov-Dec... :(

Mark said...

Better late than never?

If I were a parent, I wouldn't feel safe sending my kid to a childcare...they're a breeding ground for germs and diseases.

But what to do? Can't exactly keep the child at home for 6 months+ till the vaccine comes out.

Regards
Mark
http://earlychildcare.wordpress.com/

I'm a full-time mummy said...

Yup true...better late than they can't come out with any vaccines...

I'm just worried about the pregnant mummies and babies out there... I pray that all disease this will go away soon...

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