Welfare and social insurance ―Who should get swine-flu vaccination firstWorld health officials are carefully watching the H1N 1/09 swine-flu virus as it makes its way through the Southern Hemisphere, which is currently in the thick of its flu season.They are particularly interested in seeing how severely the virus affects infected people in parts of Africa, South America and Australia,since their illnesses could be a good predictor of how aggressive the virus will be when flu season returns to the rest of the world in the fall.So far, the H1N 1/09 flu appears to be mild overall and treatable with existing antiviral therapies.But given that the virus continues to cause some serious cases of illness and death, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP) isn’t taking any chances.On Wednesday, July 29, the agency called an urgent meeting of its Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices，which decides who gets vaccinated against which diseases and when.The committee was asked to generate guidelines for H1N1/09 vaccination, if and when the agency determines that such immunizations become necessary, in addition to those for seasonal flu.
