Swine flu shots became available yesterday for babies aged between six months and a year, and a health official said babies can be vaccinated for both A(H1N1) and seasonal flu at the same time.
Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Lin Ting (林頂) said the number of babies eligible for the vaccinations has been estimated at between 100,000 and 150,000, and the vaccinations are available at 548 locations nationwide, such as local county or city health departments and district health centers.
For the two-dose A(H1N1) vaccination, babies need to receive the shots a month apart, he said.
PHOTO: CNA
Babies allergic to eggs should not receive the shots as they could trigger an allergic reaction.
People affected by Typhoon Morakot and health care personnel have been receiving the A(H1N1) shots since the beginning of this month after the government placed them at the top of the priority list.
Next on the list after the babies under a year old are pre-school children, seriously ill patients and elementary school students, who are scheduled to receive the shots starting next Monday.
Others on the priority list are junior and senior high school students, people in the 19 to 24 age bracket and those over 25 at high risk of cardiopulmonary disease, healthy people in the 25 to 49 age bracket, and people between 50 and 64 years of age, in that order.
In related news, Hsu Tien-lai (??, director-general of the Council of Agriculture’s Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine, said yesterday that pigs on a farm in Taitung that were diagnosed with the A(H1N1) influenza virus late last month are recovering without showing new traces of the virus.
The infection was discovered among a herd of 160 pigs raised on the farm in Guanshan Township (關山) after the animals came down with coughs, runny noses and diarrhea at the end of last month.
Hsu said that in a second round of specimen collections and sophisticated tests conducted by the Centers for Disease Control on Thursday, all the affected pigs were found to be free of the virus.
A third round of tests is scheduled to be conducted tomorrow, Hsu said, adding that if the affected pigs test negative, restrictions on their movement will be lifted.
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