High priority areas?

So H1N1 vaccines are "Starting to trickle in" at my hospital. (Meaning that there are doses availiable?) I called employee health and asked them when they plan on giving them to staff.

The employee health rep sated that they have the first doses set aside for "high priority areas".

I asked her how will I know when and were to be when the vaccine is first availiable.

I also explained that I am a pregnant nurse transferring to the ICU.

All she would tell me that they will first go to high priority areas and that is all she would say.

So would someone enlighten me as to where the high priority areas are most likley to be??????

Maybe, she did not know. Personally, I can think of no one that would be of a higher priority than a pregnant nurse.

High priority could be ED, NICU, peds, oncology...Who knows what they are thinking?

It's supposed to be prioritized for healthcare workers "on the front lines" and pregnant nurses. I would say by that criterion pregnant ED nurses would go first. Except the local hospital I know that got them only got the nasal mist live virus vaccine and my understanding is that pregnant women must have the killed virus injectable vaccine. Our news coverage locally is so detailed they are announcing how many doses came to our county, how many went to the local children's hospital and who is designated (as in general group, not names obviously) to get them and so on.

I found this info on the CDC website http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/vaccination/acip.htm.

CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), a panel made up of medical and public health experts, met July 29, 2009, to make recommendations on who should receive the new H1N1 vaccine when it becomes available. While some issues are still unknown, such as how severe the flu season, the ACIP considered several factors, including current disease patterns, populations most at-risk for severe illness based on current trends in illness, hospitalizations and deaths, how much vaccine is expected to be available, and the timing of vaccine availability.

The groups recommended to receive the 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccine include:

Pregnant women because they are at higher risk of complications and can potentially provide protection to infants who cannot be vaccinated;

Household contacts and caregivers for children younger than 6 months of age because younger infants are at higher risk of influenza-related complications and cannot be vaccinated. Vaccination of those in close contact with infants younger than 6 months old might help protect infants by "cocooning" them from the virus;

Healthcare and emergency medical services personnel because infections among healthcare workers have been reported and this can be a potential source of infection for vulnerable patients. Also, increased absenteeism in this population could reduce healthcare system capacity;

All people from 6 months through 24 years of age

Children from 6 months through 18 years of age because cases of 2009 H1N1 influenza have been seen in children who are in close contact with each other in school and day care settings, which increases the likelihood of disease spread, and

Young adults 19 through 24 years of age because many cases of 2009 H1N1 influenza have been seen in these healthy young adults and they often live, work, and study in close proximity, and they are a frequently mobile population; and,

Persons aged 25 through 64 years who have health conditions associated with higher risk of medical complications from influenza