Pregnant women to be given H1N1 vaccine on utmost priority

This notion has been corroborated by the findings of a new study published Wednesday in the on-line version of the British medical journal Lancet.

The susceptible category
Next on the priority list of people to be administered the vaccine would be, health care workers, children above the age of six months, youngsters aged between 19 and 24 and other non-elderly adults. All these categories are also considered to be high-risk when it comes to the chances of confronting the influenza.

These recommendations were given by a 15-member panel of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. The suggestions are likely to be accepted by the federal health officials in Toto.

The recommendations state that the parents, guardians and care-givers of children below the age of six months should also be administered this vaccine, as these infants cannot be given the vaccine.

All medical conditions are is high risk
In the first month of the swine flu outbreak, half a dozen pregnant women have succumbed to the lethal virus. According to the CDC, all these six women developed pneumonia and acute respiratory distress and had to be put on mechanical ventilation.

Dr. Denise Jamieson, the lead author of the study noted, "The death of a pregnant woman is always heartbreaking, and unfortunately we have been hearing reports of otherwise healthy women dying from H1N1"

"If a pregnant woman feels like she may have influenza she needs to call her health care provider right away," added Jamieson.

In all 34 pregnant women have been affected by the influenza A (H1N1) since its outbreak in Mexico in April this year. Out of these, 11 developed acute respiratory illness and had to be hospitalized.

Dr. Erica Pan, director of San Francisco’s Bioterrorism and Infectious Disease Emergencies Unit put forward a valid argument, "As far as what information we release to the public, we do not single out any medical condition, including pregnancy, when releasing information about H1N1-related illnesses or deaths."

The mothers-to-be are also advised to get Tamiflu if they experience like high symptoms like fever, sore throat or cough.