With summer coming to an end soon, schools starting back up and a new flu season on the horizon, health officials are preparing for the next round of H1N1 outbreaks.  This update includes a status of the H1N1 vaccine and federal government recommendations for employers for the upcoming flu season.

H1N1 Vaccine Update
At the end of July, the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) made recommendations on who should receive the H1N1 vaccine when it became available.  The groups recommended to receive the novel H1N1 flu vaccine include:

• Pregnant women
• Health care workers and emergency medical responders
• People caring for infants under 6 months of age
• Children and young adults from 6 months to 24 years
• People aged 25 to 64 years with underlying medical conditions (e.g. asthma, diabetes)

Combined, these groups represent approximately 159 million individuals.

Clinical trials for the H1N1 vaccine began earlier this month and the CDC continues to develop its vaccine distribution plan.  Based on the current expected manufacturing capacity, the CDC is estimating that between 45 million and 52 million doses of the vaccine will be available by mid-October.  After that, 20 million doses are expected to be shipped out each week until the end of the year.  Initially, the number of vaccine doses available to each state will depend on that state’s population.  Providers will submit to their state’s Department of Health the number of vaccine doses they need, and states will coordinate these orders with the CDC.

Recommendations for Employers
The federal government recently announced guidelines for employers to plan for and respond to the upcoming flu season.  Their recommendations included the following:

• Employer plans should address such points as: encouraging employees with flu-like symptoms or illness to stay home; preparing to operate with reduced staffing; and possibly having employees who are at higher risk of serious medical complications from infection work from home.
• Make sure human resources and leave policies are flexible and follow public health guidance. For example, if employees are sick, they should be encouraged to stay home. If people begin to experience flu-like symptoms at work, they should be sent home and encouraged to seek medical treatment if appropriate.
• Promote common sense measures to reduce the risk of spreading the flu, such as frequent hand washing.
• Review sick leave policies and ensure employees understand them. Employers are encouraged to be flexible with employees who may need to stay home with sick family members or if a child’s school is closed.
• Consider offering the seasonal flu vaccine and encourage employees to get the seasonal flu and H1N1 vaccines (once available).
• Consider cancelling non-essential face-to-face meetings and travel.