Ventura, CA. - The Ventura County Public Health Department has expanded the list of who is eligible to receive the H1N1 vaccine once again and now includes all people, healthy or high risk, 6 months of age and older. This list has been updated and includes those adults aged 25-64 who are healthy; they are the last group to become eligible to receive the vaccine in Ventura County. “This basically opens the eligibility for H1N1 vaccine to everyone in our county,” said Public Health Officer, Dr. Robert Levin.

Infants (under 6 months of age) are ineligible to receive the vaccine. Scientists believe the vaccine will not be effective in this age group.

This new dictum was arrived at due to the following factors:

• The amount of vaccine that has arrived in the county since September has increased to adequate levels
• 25 to 30% of the high risk population in Ventura County has now been vaccinated against H1N1
• There has not been an unmanageable increase in the length of lines at clinics where vaccine is being offered

“This vaccine isn’t going to do anyone any good if it sits on the shelf,” said Dr. Levin. “The more people we can get this into in our county, the better.” The novel H1N1 (swine) vaccine is available for Ventura County residents only. Sites where the vaccine is available can be found on the Health Care Agency Public Health website: www.vchca.org/H1N1.