Utah's flu-vaccine protocol likely to change

Priorities for who should get influenza vaccine and even how it's delivered might change in the event of a pandemic, state health officials told members of a task force charged with pandemic planning.

In fact, everything about pandemic-flu vaccine would be different from what people have grown accustomed to for seasonal influenza, said Linda Abel, program manager of the Utah Immunization Program.

While each year health experts predict what type of seasonal flu strains will be circulating and vaccine is prepared based on that, with a pandemic, there's no guessing ahead. A pandemic by its nature is an unknown or significantly changed influenza virus for which most people don't have any natural protection. And that means only when it strikes can the process of preparing a vaccine against it begin.

Depending on where it strikes and how fast it moves, the worst of a pandemic could be over by the time vaccine is ready, said Dr. Robert Rolfs, Utah state epidemiologist.

Priorities for receiving vaccine need to be set in advance, Abel said, because it takes four to six months simply to develop the vaccine. Then it has to be distributed as quickly and productively as possible. "One of the planning assumptions we have is that the administration of vaccine as it became available would be different from those used for seasonal influenza."

In both cases, public safety, first responder and health-care providers are expected to be a high priority.

The Governor's Task Force for Pandemic Influenza Preparedness, which has been meeting for several months, expects to hold its last meeting in February. At that time, it will go over the final recommendations it plans to make to the governor and other officials, as well as the public health system.

Government and public agencies can't do it all, the experts agree. Community participation and preparedness efforts are essential. It's likely that most people would be "on their own" for some time in a crisis and they should know what to do, disaster planners say.

Even getting a pneumonia shot in advance would help, said Abel, because of those who die from influenza a great many succumb to pneumonia, which is among the most common of the serious complications.