Last year’s outbreak of H1N1 has raised concerns about the possible difficulty to contain the number of people infected during this year’s flu season. A vaccine is developed and ready to be distributed. The burning question is how we will distribute the vaccine among the population in order to prevent too many people from being infected by the H1N1 virus. The CDC has expressed that priority should be given to children or young adults (6 months to 25 years-old) as they are the most likely to be hit by the virus. That approach offers the benefit of preventing the high-rick population from getting the virus, but might not be the one protecting people at a larger scale.
From an efficiency point of view, we might want to consider the following approach that would curb the propagation of the H1N1 flu in the first place. Vaccines should be made available to children and people who work with children: school workers and teachers should be vaccinated so that they do not become a vector of transmission of the virus. Also, parents with young children should be vaccinated as they represent a risky population in terms of transmission. Such a policy might help contain the H1N1 cases in the coming months.
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August 27, 2009 at 2:12 pm
Justin Holz
Beyond children, I think that university students would be a good candidate for early vaccinations. Students live, work, and eat in the same vicinity for months at a time and then travel back to their respective homes for breaks and holidays. If a university student were to contract H1N1, then it is conceivable that (s)he could infect fellow students, others in public transportation venues, and finally those in their home town who may end up bringing the virus back to their univiersities. Schools like Penn State take this threat so seriously that they have moved to quarantine students that test positive for swine flu.
September 6, 2009 at 10:53 pm
Acne Treatments Site
the H1N1 or Swine Flu Virus is very scary at first but now it is well controlled by vaccines and prevention by avoiding going into places with incidence of swine flu.
October 16, 2009 at 3:09 am
anxietyboy
H1N1 or Swine Flu is a bit scary but it a good thing to note that this virus is not that very deadly.
December 23, 2009 at 12:14 am
Janice
One of my sisters got infected with H1N1 or more commonly known as Swine Flu. Fortunately, she did not have very high fever and she was able to recover fast .
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January 4, 2010 at 9:48 pm
| Acne Treatments Asia
If you look at the pandemic of 1977, when H1N1 or Swine Flu re-emerged after a 20 year absence, there is no shift in age-related mortality pattern. The 1977 “pandemic” is, of course, not considered a true pandemic by experts today, for reasons that are not entierely consistent. It certainly was an antigenic shift and not an antigenic drift. As far as I have been able to follow the current events, the most significant factor seems to have been that most people, who were severely affected, were people with other medical conditions.