Know how to reach your local health department; skip flu parties, they’re a bad idea.

No shot in the arm: A vaccine won't help everyone, so make plans now in case swine flu strikes your household.

RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—A U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) panel is meeting today to lay out guidelines about what groups should receive first dibs on the swine flu, a.k.a. H1N1, vaccine, expected to be available as early as mid-October. Healthcare workers and pregnant women are expected to top the list, and school-aged children could be next in line. The swine flu virus is disproportionately affecting children and young adults compared to seasonal flu, which usually targets the very young, the elderly, and those with compromised immune systems.

THE DETAILS: As the panel meets to hash out recommendations, clinical trials for the new swine flu vaccine are set to begin in eight National Institutes of Health (NIH) vaccine-testing locations throughout the country. While the middle-aged, and then younger, volunteers receive the vaccine in NIH-sponsored safety tests, vaccine makers will continue producing vaccines that should be available by mid-October. However, only a limited number will be available at first, with more shipments expected on a weekly basis through at least December. The take-home message? “Clearly, we will not have enough vaccine for everyone in the U.S. on Oct. 15,” explains William Schaffner, MD, chair of the department of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN.