Vaccine Supply & Distribution

In advance of 2018 pandemic vaccine availability, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) plans to use stockpiled H7N9 vaccines as a priming dose for selected persons at high risk of complications from influenza and designated critical workforce groups. Nonpharmaceutical interventions, or NPI’s, are actions people and communities can take to help slow the spread of respiratory illnesses, like pandemic flu. Given that it may take months to create a vaccine specific to the 2018 influenza A(H7N9) pandemic, NPI’s will likely be the only prevention tools available during the early stages of a pandemic. CDC released community mitigation guidance for a severe to very severe pandemic as outlined in 2017 Community Mitigation Guidelines. CDC’s Traveler’s Health Branch issues Level 3 Travel Health Notices indicating nonessential travel should be avoided to affected areas in countries with recently confirmed H7N9 cases.