Thursday, August 20, 2009

H1N1 vaccination strategy: "If you can stop it in the schools, you can indirectly protect grandparents, or co-workers without kids"

SHOOt: They key to fighting this virus appears to be containing the infections taking place in schools.
clipped from www.reuters.com
"Flu vaccine is not 100 percent effective at blocking infection. If you can prevent people from being exposed to begin with, it is more effective than vaccinating people at risk," Medlock said in a telephone interview.
CHICAGO, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Contrary to current U.S. strategy, vaccinating school children and their parents against the flu is the best way to protect the nation from influenza, including the new pandemic swine flu, U.S. researchers said on Thursday.
They said vaccine priority should be given to people most likely to spread the virus, not those most at risk of serious complications from it.
Seasonal and H1N1 vaccination guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention currently target people who are likely to become the most ill if infected.
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