Swine flu vaccine distribution plan for Pennsylvania

The Pennsylvania Department of Health today discussed the state's distribution plans for the new pandemic H1N1 vaccine.

Pennsylvania is placing its first vaccine order today. Due to the limited nature of the initial vaccine supplies, the doses will be highly focused in their distribution and use. More than 70 percent of all illness from the pandemic H1N1 flu virus is occurring in Pennsylvania's children and young adults aged five to 24 years.

Pennsylvania's Acting Physician General Dr. Stephen Ostroff and Health Deputy Secretary Michael Huff conducted a webinar to provide updates of the statewide vaccination program, which is driven by three primary considerations: the supply and type of available vaccine, federal recommendations for the top five priority groups, and disease surveillance to control the disease and reduce the risk of complications.

This vaccine effort is intended to vaccinate as many Pennsylvanians in the targeted groups as possible in the coming months and includes an Internet-based, pre-registration system for private providers, schools and others that want to administer the new H1N1 vaccine in their facility, and public mass vaccination clinics that will be held later this fall as more vaccine becomes available.

The federal government recently approved four vaccines for the 2009 H1N1 flu virus. The first available vaccine doses will only include live attenuated influenza vaccine, or LAIV, also known by the brand name FluMist.

This intra-nasal vaccine is recommended primarily for healthy persons between the ages of 2-49 years. It is not indicated for some people who are in the top vaccine priority groups - pregnant women, children under two years of age, persons with certain underlying health conditions, and healthcare workers who deal with severely immune-suppressed persons.

Additional doses and types of vaccine are expected to be made available by the federal government in the coming weeks and approximately 2.5 million doses are expected in Pennsylvania by the end of October. The department will work with registered providers to assure vaccine reaches individuals in the prioritized groups.

The department will target the initial doses of LAIV primarily to healthy school children between the ages of 5-9 years with a smaller proportion of the available supply being used for college students in settings where disease outbreaks have occurred and are ongoing. Efforts will be made to distribute vaccine to the three areas of the state that are experiencing the highest numbers of cases: namely the southeast, southwest and north central districts.

The department anticipates pandemic H1N1 flu activity in the coming weeks to increase in younger populations in schools and institutions of higher education. The department believes it is very important to begin vaccination for children under 10 years of age, as early as possible, because they will require two separate doses of pandemic influenza H1N1 vaccine.

Eventually, anyone who wants the vaccine will be able to get it after the needs of those in the high-risk/priority groups have been met.

Today's webinar and pandemic H1N1 influenza information is available at www.H1N1inPA.com. Information is also available at 1-877-PA-HEALTH.