December 17th, 2009

Reports the Philadelphia Inquirer:

The Pennsylvania Department of Health yesterday expanded eligibility for the swine flu vaccine, saying health-care providers that had already immunized patients most at risk could now make vaccine available to the general population.

Since the vaccine became available a little more than two months ago, it has largely been limited to groups that a federal advisory panel identified as most in danger of complications from the flu or most likely to transmit it to others. How to interpret and enforce those recommendations, however, has been left to state and local governments. They, in turn, based decisions partly on how much vaccine was available – and likely still will.