H1N1 vaccine won't reach the Jewel anytime soon And in respect of treatment, there is a vaccine that has been developed internationally for the H1N1. The U.S. based Center for Disease Control's Prevention advisory committee made recommendations today for who should receive use of the vaccine when it becomes available, and to determine which groups of the population should be prioritized. But according to Dr. Pitts, that vaccine may be a long way off from reaching Belize.

Dr. Michael Pitts, Director of Health Services
"It is the period, the time to produce and I think already they are saying that they will have to prioritize who they give and I understand they look at high risk groups, for example, pregnant mothers and they look at health care workers and they have other priority groups. But it's the US pushing on one front, production and I believe parts of Europe is pushing. But by any means we would not have sufficient for the whole world. I think countries would be virtual pecking order to get this vaccine. To the same extent, for example, with the regular flu vaccine, we didn't really begin to use that until about two years ago on a wide scale and so we are not in a position to get it now and I don't see that likely even in a year or so. But in the meantime, what we are encouraging because of the fact that the cases are mostly mild, our system can respond to the mild cases. And if with the cooperation of the population, we try to limit our exposing persons to us if they are sick and by covering coughs, doing the necessary hygiene, taking the sensible steps, stay away from work, stay away from school, then I think we can manage."

When the vaccine is widely available in the U.S., the CDC recommends that it be distributed first to pregnant women, people who live with or care for children younger than six months of age, health care personnel, persons between the ages of six months through twenty-four years of age, and people from ages twenty-five through sixty-four years who are at higher risk for H1N1 because of chronic health disorders or compromised immune systems.