Healthy school age children and young adults are now part of the group eligible to receive the H1N1 vaccine, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services announced Monday.

These demographics were originally included in the target group, but were removed because the vaccine supply was much more limited than originally thought, according to DHS spokesperson Stephanie Marquis.

H1N1 vaccines have been given out based on Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommendations in order to ensure the vaccine is available to high risk and target individuals, Marquis said.

“What we want is to expand the availability for people. We’ve been monitoring our vaccine supply and reaching our target groups, which has allowed us to expand the availability,” said Marquis.

DHS said in a statement released Monday it has been paying particular attention to the supply of vaccines from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention as well as private and public providers of the vaccine. The CDC has allocated more than 1 million doses of the vaccine for Wisconsin, making the expansion possible.

With the expansion, the statement said Wisconsin is able to return to the CDC original target group recommendations, which include pregnant women, persons exposed daily to infants 6-months-old and younger, healthcare and emergency medical workers, people under 24 years of age, and people ages 25 to 64 with certain health risks.

Marquis said the next phase of the expansion will be supplying vaccines to the general population. However, the time frame when the next expansion will occur is

unknown. Marquis said it will depend on the manufacturing of the vaccines and the size of the vaccine supply.

“We have to make sure we have what we need to meet the target groups. Our goal is to reach that point as soon as possible,” said Marquis.

Students are now able to receive the vaccine through University Health Services as well. UHS has been allocated 2000 vaccines since the expansion, said UHS Director Sarah Van Orman.

She said the expansion is important for UHS and campus because it appears there is now an adequate supply to provide the vaccine to people who have not been eligible, a group which includes most students at the University of Wisconsin.

“Students at high risk have been given opportunity to get the vaccine, so now we can focus on getting the vaccine to healthy students,” said Van Orman.

Although UHS has seen drops in the number of H1N1 cases in the past few weeks, Van Orman still encourages students to get the vaccine.

“Students should get the vaccine as soon as possible, so that they aren’t affected during finals,” Van Orman said.