Healthcare officials advised the vaccination of about half of the U. S. population, with priority to healthcare professionals, young adults, and pregnant women. 160 million vaccines are expected to be available by October, but in the event of a shortage, the ones on the said three groups of the population would be vaccinated first. Young people ages 19-24 and infants are at a huge risk in exposure to the flu and most young adults can usually be found in places that may contribute to the worsening of the epidemic.
The recommendation also included health care professionals, and pregnant women, who are four times as vulnerable to the said infection. It was estimated that the combined size of the high risk groups to be 41 million. The government is setting up a huge campaign for mass vaccination in mid-October. Each person is advised to be vaccinated twice. However, there is not enough vaccine available, since vaccinating the entire population would require 600 million doses.
At present, five pharmaceutical companies are producing vaccines for swine flu, and would not be able to produce as much vaccines as needed by October, implying that most likely, the prioritization of the population would be implemented. Currently, about 20-25 % of the high risk groups are vaccinated against the swine influenza virus. Healthcare advisors speculate that the epidemic would worsen at the advent of the northern hemisphere influenza season, which starts in autumn, and were eager to implement the mass vaccination as a precautionary measure.
Epidemiological Concepts Population at Risk Population at risk is defined as the portion of the population susceptible to the disease (Beaglehole et al. , 2007, p. 17). But the health experts mentioned above went even further than that. They have accurately identified the high risk groups, in this case, the infants, young adults, pregnant women and health professionals. They recommended that such high risk groups be given the utmost attention during the vaccination campaign and the prevention of the further spread of the disease, in the face of short medical supplies.
Incidence and Prevalence Incidence and Prevalence, though closely related grammatically, are different terms in epidemiology. Incidence refers to the rate of the spread of a new case in a given population, while Prevalence deals with the frequency of cases already existing, and with respect to population and time or period (Beaglehole et al, 2007, p. 18). The healthcare advisors applied the epidemiological concepts of Incidence and Prevalence in an effort to stop the spread of the influenza virus.
Using statistical methods and existing prevalence data on other diseases related to influenza, experts were able to anticipate the worsening of the epidemic situation during autumn, and thus took action in response to that thread by spearheading a mass vaccination campaign. Environmental and Occupational Epidemiology Initially, epidemiology focuses only on the medical aspects of spread of diseases. But as medical science and technology progresses, medical professionals have learned to use the principles of mathematics and the social sciences along with their field of study in answering the medical needs of the population (HHS, n.
d. , p. 3). The experts in the said news also applied the principles of environmental and occupational epidemiology in formulating their decisions. They put into consideration the national climate, the most common locations of the workforce, the supply and demand for medication and medical supplies and the increased risk of exposure of medical professionals to the disease.
References Bonita, R. , Beaglehole, R. , & Kjellstrom, Tord. (2007). Basic Epidemiology. Swtizerland: World Health Organization. Reuters. (2009, July 29). Half of U.S. should get H1N1 vaccination: officials. Retrived July 30, 009, from http://www. reuters. com/article/GCA-SwineFlu/ idUSTRE56R6MH20090729? pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0&sp=true U. S. Department of Health and Human Services. (n. d. ). Principles of Epidemiology. Retrieved July 30, 2009, from http://www. google. com. ph/url? sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=11&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww2a. cdc. gov%2Fphtn %2Fcatalog%2Fpdf-file%2FEpi_Course. pdf&ei=00VxSrCpCdLUkAWdveihDA &usg=AFQjCNGK95zxUJYB1GIOJEwhHbSQT_OPyg&sig2=czGhc9IZy1uV- 3piKIRJ8A