A Yale researcher has proposed a swine flu vaccination strategy that would minimize cases and mortality and reduce costs. The strategy gives priority for vaccinations to those most likely to transmit swine flu rather than to those most vulnerable to the disease.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) currently recommend targeting such high-risk groups as children under five; adults 65 or older; and pregnant women. In a paper published online in the August 20 issue of the journal Science, Alison P. Galvani, Ph.D., associate professor of epidemiology (microbial diseases), and Jan Medlock, Ph.D., an assistant professor of mathematical sciences at Clemson University, said that vaccinating schoolchildren and their parents would be more effective.
ACIP’s vaccination policies, the study found, would result in 1.3 million infections, 2,600 deaths, and $2.8 billion in economic impact. Galvani’s model, however, projected 113,000 infections, 242 deaths, and a cost of $1.6 billion.
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