Feds Have Swine Flu Plan Wrong: Yale Study

Giving shots to people more likely to spread disease will lessen the spread, researchers say

By BOB CONNORS

Updated 11:45 AM EDT, Tue, Aug 25, 2009

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The flu season is quickly approaching and there is growing concern about an outbreak of the so-called "swine flu" as we move from summer to fall. A new Yale study shows the health community might have to change its thinking to help prevent the spread of the disease.

According to the research published by the Yale University School of Public Health, changing the way people are vaccinated might be the best way to keep swine flu in check this year.

Current common practice is to vaccinate those most at risk, such as the sick and elderly, to protect them from getting the disease.

But the Yale research suggests vaccinating those most likely to spread viruses: school-aged children and their parents.

"Our results illustrate the importance of considering transmission when allocating vaccines," Galvani said.

"You can stop the transmission chain very effectively by vaccinating the school children," Jan Medlock, a mathematician who worked on the research, told The Money Times.

This, researchers said, is the critical step in keeping the disease from spreading to the general public.

"Stopping the transmission in schools would then keep the kids from bringing it home to their parents, and keep their parents from giving it to co-workers, grandparents, whatever," Yale School of Medicine researcher Galvani told The Money Times.

Using a mathematical model, Galvani and Medlock found vaccinating school-aged children, along with adults 34 to 39 (an age group likely to have kids), would best prevent an outbreak of swine flu. The pair says the same model can be used to limit the spread of the seasonal flu as well.

Not everyone is convinced. Centers for Disease Control spokesperson Artealia Gilliard says the CDC usually doesn't change its immunization guidelines based on one study. The models, she said, are based on assumptions about viruses and that in the real world, viruses are unpredictable.