# 3480
At the same time that they announced disappointingly low yields from the existing swine flu seed strains being cultured in eggs, the WHO (World Health Organization) also released recommendations as to who should get first priority for a vaccine when it does become available.
And the answer is Health Care Workers, who being on the front lines will be the most exposed, and among most vulnerable to the virus.
Other high risk groups that they recommend receive early access to the vaccine include pregnant women and young children.
WHO says health workers priority for H1N1 vaccine
Mon Jul 13, 2009 12:29pm EDT
By Laura MacInnis and Ben Hirschler
GENEVA/LONDON (Reuters) - Healthcare workers should get priority access to H1N1 flu vaccinations to ensure health systems keep functioning as the swine flu pandemic spreads around the globe, the World Health Organization said on Monday.
Marie-Paule Kieny, WHO director of the Initiative for Vaccine Research, said the agency's experts had concluded every country in the world would need access to vaccines, which drug companies are now racing to produce.
Disappointingly, Kieny said, yields from growing the new virus in chicken eggs -- the mainstay of flu vaccine production -- had so far been "poor," at only 25 to 50 percent of that achieved with normal seasonal flu strains.
Alternative strains are now being studied that will hopefully increase output, she added.
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In addition to pregnant women and people with underlying diseases, Kieny said countries might also want to prioritize children, since they can transmit the virus rapidly at school and at home.
