The H1N1 Vaccine

It's $20 for the H1N1 injectable vaccination and the State Health Department recommended the following groups to be prioritized for the vaccination first
  1. Children 6 months to 24 years
  2. Pregnant women
  3. Healthcare and EMS personnel in direct patient care
  4. Household and caregiver contacts of children younger than 6 months
  5. Persons 25 to 64 years old with high-risk medical conditions
What is H1N1 swine flu?
The swine flu is a strain of virus that shares genes with flu viruses that affect pigs. The swine flu of interest in 2009 is the novel H1N1 strain, which was passed from pigs to human beings. It is causing illness in humans, and as of June 2009, was declared pandemic by the World Health Organization. In October 2009, President Barack Obama declared an H1N1 swine flu national emergency in the United States.

What does H1N1 Influenza A mean?
The official, scientific name for swine flu, its serologic classification, is Novel H1N1 Influenza A. "Novel" just means that it is a new strain. The H means hemagglutinin and the N means neuraminidase and the "1"s refer to their antibody type. Influenza A is a genus of the Orthomyxoviridae family of viruses, and refers to the fact that the virus is first identified in an animal, usually a pig or a bird. When put together, they describe the 2009-2010 swine flu virus.

Why is this flu different from other flus?
There are thousands of different kinds of viruses that can cause the flu. New strains develop frequently and each one is different from the one before it. The seasonal flu is actually comprised of several different strains of flu. Swine flu is a new, different strain of virus.

What are the swine flu stages I keep hearing about?
The World Health Organization, WHO, developed a plan to respond to health emergencies, like swine flu, which have the potential to become pandemic. Each stage represents a different level of response. For example, Stage 4 means that the disease can no longer be contained inside any specific country, therefore governments must take steps to handle community spread of the disease. As of late spring 2009, H1N1 swine flu was labeled pandemic by WHO, meaning it had reached Stage 5. (You can follow WHO swine flu staging for changes and updates.)

What exactly is a pandemic?
WHO defines a pandemic along those stages mentioned above. They describe the prevalence of the disease, across populations and countries. There is a difference between a pandemic and an epidemic.