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Will a Prisoner Get the Swine Flu Vaccine Before Your Child Will?
That's the kind of inflammatory headline we've seen lately, as H1N1 vaccine shortages have forced public health authorities to make tough choices as to who will receive the first doses of vaccine.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides the vaccine to states according to their population size. The CDC also advises health officials who is at elevated risk from a serious H1N1 influenza infection:
- pregnant women,
- people who live with or care for children younger than 6 months of age,
- health care and emergency medical services personnel with direct patient contact,
- anyone aged 6 months through 24 years, and
- anyone under age 65 with a chronic health condition.
The problem is, in some states, these categories include up to half of the population. That's many times the number of vaccine doses available.
State and local authorities decide where to deliver swine flu vaccine, and in what amounts. In many states, some of the first available vaccine has been allocated to prisons, to inoculate convicts at higher risk (such as pregnant women and prisoners with asthma). This has created a slight delay in vaccinating lower-risk people in the community.
Media reports and the resulting outcry from critics have put health officials on the defensive. Some health authorities have since declared that prisoners won't be given priority. Others defend the decision, emphasizing prisoners' vulnerability to flu, and their right to medical care despite their crimes.
Increased production of the H1N1 vaccine should permit vaccination of everyone who wants it - although when that will be is unclear. The shortage of vaccine raises tough questions we're not used to asking in our resource-rich medical system.
What do you think about prisoners at higher risk from swine flu getting vaccinated before the general population?
3 Comments:
I just read online that the U.S. could have had triple the amount of H1N1 vaccine if they had used an adjuvant like the other countries do. Adjuvants are safe and have been used in those countries for over 10 years, but the FDA did not approve it's use. We have people standing in line for this vaccine.
The adjuvant could also be used with the seasonal flu vaccine to make it more effective.
Better to practice a moderate form of quarantine. Have officers go to off premises physicians to verify illness, insist they stay home and take sick days. Discipline any who try to slip by. Keep all sick people off site. Quarantine any sick prisoners. Lock down as needed. Use anti-virals and antibiotics as needed. Have "medical" assisting inmates, doctors, nurses, and techs vaccinated. Get vaccine for the rest when possible. Vaccinate inmates living in dorms before vaccinating inmates in double and single cells. If inmates contract H1N1, test to insure it is the disease, then train them as temporary medical assistants.
Your are saying "Adjuvants are safe..." and then saying the FDA didn't approve "it's use". You are talking about the Sqalene and synthetic squalene adjuvants. I suggest you read Vaccine-A, an exploration of the anthrax vaccine and it's relationship to the Gulf War Syndrome, and educate yourself.
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