HHS, Homeland Security Release Pandemic Influenza Vaccine Guidance
The U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services and Homeland Security have released Guidance on Allocating and Targeting Pandemic Influenza Vaccine. The purpose of the guidance is to provide a planning framework to help state, tribal, local, and community leaders ensure that vaccine allocation and use will reduce the impact of a pandemic on public health.
Target groups are defined in the guidance by a common occupation, type of service, age group, or risk level and are clustered into four broad categories: homeland and national security, health care and community support services, critical infrastructures, and the general population. These four categories together cover the entire population.
Across these categories, according to the document, vaccine should be allocated and administered according to tiers where all groups designated for vaccination within a tier have equal priority for vaccination. Groups within tiers vary depending on pandemic severity.
For more information, visit www.pandemicflu.gov/vaccine/allocationguidance.pdf.