Seniors 65 and Over on Tail End of H1N1 Swine Flu Vaccination Priority List

Seniors 65 and over are on the tail end of the H1N1 swine flu vaccination priority list according to a vote taken today by a government appointed panel of experts.

The advisory committee for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have compiled a list of groups who should be among the first to get the H1N1 vaccine when it becomes available.

Those groups include pregnant women, parents and caretakers of young children, all health care workers, people between the ages of 6 months and 24 years and non-elderly adults with underlying medical conditions.

Should the new vaccine be unexpectedly restricted, the committee recommends an even smaller group to receive priority for the vaccination. This smaller group includes pregnant women, household contacts of children under the age of 6, only health care workers with direct exposure to infected patients or to the virus, children between 6 months and 4 years of age and those ages 5 to 18 with underlying factors.

After the priority groups listed, healthy people through the ages of 25 and 64 would be next in line for the vaccine.

Seniors over 65 are at the tail end of the H1N1 swine flu vaccination priority list because the committee says based on the science of the pandemic so far there have been far fewer cases of swine flu in this elderly group.