Expanded Priority Groups For pH1N1 Vaccine Beginning Monday

Vaccine should continue to be offered to persons under 65 years of age with underlying medical conditions and pregnant women in the second half of pregnancy who have not already been immunized.

Beginning Monday November 2, pH1N1 vaccine should also be offered to the following groups:

• children aged 6 months to under 5 years;
• household contacts of infants under 6 months or the immunocompromised;
• health care workers including community physicians and their office staff should be given vaccine on a prioritized basis, with those delivering critical and front-line services the first priority.

Vaccine availability changes daily, so please check regularly at your local Health Unit for updated information. Please ask your MOA to let the Health Unit know how many physicians work in the office she is picking up for and an estimate of the number of high priority patients in their practices.

Fraser Health will begin offering some public clinics for the above risk groups starting Monday November 2. Please check www.immunizebc.ca on Monday for clinic times and locations.

pH1N1 vaccine can be given at the same time as other vaccines, including with routine childhood immunizations. It should be delivered in a limb by itself. Additional information is available in the BCCDC Immunization Manual at http://www.bccdc.ca/dis-cond/comm-manual/CDManualChap2.htm.

Fraser Health has received two shipments of pH1N1 vaccine and a third shipment will be arriving on Monday. Vaccine from the third shipment will be available at the Health Units beginning Monday afternoon.

All currently available pH1N1 vaccine is adjuvanted; a small amount of non-adjuvanted vaccine is expected to arrive in British Columbia late next week. Immunization of pregnant women should not be delayed while waiting for non-adjuvanted vaccine to arrive.

Detailed information about the vaccine is available on the Provincial Health Officer’s Website for Physicians at http://www.hls.gov.bc.ca/pho/physh1n1.html.

For additional information please call the MHO line at 604-587-3828 or in Fraser East 1-877-342-6467.

After Hours Public Health Emergency Pager: 604-527-4806. Ask for the Medical Health Officer On-Call