EMERGENCY HEALTH ALERT         Frequently Asked Questions News Releases & Updates Information & Guidelines > General Information > Parents & Caregivers > Pregnant Women > Education & Child Care > Business/Employers > Organizations/Churches Additional Resources Healthcare Providers Home   2009 H1N1 Flu Target Groups The CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommends that programs and providers provide vaccine to all persons in the following five initial target groups as soon as vaccine is available (order of target groups does not indicate priority): Pregnant Women Persons who live with or provide care for infants aged <6 months (e.g., parents, siblings, and daycare providers) Health-care and emergency medical services personnel ** Children and young adults aged 6 months - 24 years Person aged 25-64 years who have medical conditions that put them at higher risk for influenza-related complications *** Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommends that all persons in the following subset of five initial target groups receive priority for vaccination if vaccine availability is not sufficient to meet demand (order of target groups does not indicate priority): Pregnant Women Persons who live with or provide care for infants aged <6 months (e.g., parents, siblings, and daycare providers) Health-care and emergency medical services personnel who have direct contact with patients or infectious material Children aged 6 months - 4 years Children and adolescents aged 5-18 years who have medical conditions that put them at higher risk for influenza-related complications *** * Priority should be given to persons in the subset of the five target groups only if initial vaccine availability is not sufficient to meet demand for all persons in the five target groups. As vaccine availability increases, vaccination programs should be expanded to include all members of the initial target groups. Vaccination of other adult populations is recommended as vaccine availability increases. ** Health-care personnel (HCP) include all paid and unpaid persons working in health-care settings who have the potential for exposure to patients with influenza, infection materials, including body substances, contaminated medical supplies and equipment, or contaminated environmental surfaces. HCP might include (but are not limited to) physicians, nurses, nursing assistants, therapists, technicians, emergency medical service personnel, pharmacists, laboratory personnel, autopsy personnel, students and trainees, contractual staff not employed by the heath-care facility, and persons (e.g., clerical, dietary, housekeeping, maintenance, and volunteers) not directly involved in patient care but potentially exposed to infectious agents that can be transmitted to and from HCP. The recommendations in this report apply to HCP in acute-care hospitals, nursing homes, skilled nursing facilities, physicians’ offices, urgent care centers, and outpatient clinics, and to person who provide home health care and emergency medical services. Emergency medical services. Emergency medical services personnel might include persons in an occupation (e.g., emergency medical technicians and fire fighters) who provide emergency medical care as part of their normal job duties. *** Medical conditions that confer a higher risk for influenza-related complications include chronic pulmonary (including asthma), cardiovascular (except hypertension), renal, hepatic, cognitive, neurologic/ neuromuscular, hematologic, or metabolic disorders (including diabetes mellitus) and immunosuppression (including immunosuppression caused by medications or by human immunodeficiency virus).