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Obamas to follow rules on flu vaccine

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-09-21 09:17

US President Barack Obama is welcomed by his daughters Sasha (L) and Malia and their dog Bo on his return to Washington after a day trip to Ohio and Pennsylvania, where he participated in economic rallies, September 15, 2009. [Agencies]

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama says the first family will follow the rules like every one else on the H1N1 flu vaccine.

Obama says he's probably "fairly far down" the pecking order for being vaccinated.

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He tells CNN's "State of the Union" that even though he's president, "We will stand in line like everybody else. And when folks say it's our turn, that's when we'll get it."

Federal guidelines call for the new vaccine to be given first to pregnant women; people who live with or care for kids 6 months or younger; health care workers; people age 6 months through 24; and people with chronic health problems or compromised immune systems.

Only after shots are offered to those groups will the vaccine be available to healthy adults 64 and younger, that's where the president and first lady come in. Eleven-year-old Malia and 8-year-old Sasha are in one those earlier groups.

Obama says he'll call up his health secretary and the director of the Centers for Disease Control and "whatever they tell me to do, I will do."