"The Health Department is coordinating our vaccine administration strategies with Duke University Health System and other healthcare providers to ensure that all persons at high risk for flu complications have access to the H1N1 vaccines in a timely and efficient manner," said Gayle B. Harris, director of the Durham County Public Health Departments.
There are two forms of H1N1 vaccinations -- a nasal spray and an injection. Only the nasal spray is available at this time.
However, more than 180,000 doses of the vaccine, both the nasal mist and the flu shots, should arrive in North Carolina this week.
All major hospitals will get them at that time, but those who want to get it at the doctor's office may have to wait another two weeks.
But in Durham County on October 19 and 21, there will be vaccine clinics for elementary school students.
The clinics are scheduled for 3 p.m. to 7 p.m at the Durham Public School Staff Development Center on Hillandale Road.
It comes as health officials say the virus is killing more children who were otherwise healthy.
More children have now died from swine flu than normally die in a typical flu season which runs through May. Two deaths have been in North Carolina.
Doctors are painting a frightening picture of how previously healthy young people are becoming critically ill, suffering from low levels of oxygen in the blood, organ failure and prolonged ventilation.
"The flu symptom in and of themselves may not be that dramatic but there can always be a secondary infection that arises," Community Health Director Sue Lynn Ledford said. "That's why monitoring those small children and anyone else who has had the virus needs to be done for some time."
Health officials say protecting your family from getting the virus in the first place is the best defense.
The H1N1 vaccine will be available at the Durham County Health Department Immunization Clinic while supplies last.
"Given the initial limited availability of the vaccine, at this time we are encouraging those groups identified as high priority by the CDC and able to receive the nasal spray form get the vaccine," said Dr. Cameron R. Wolfe, a physician with the Duke University Medical Center Division of Infectious Diseases. "Multiple studies, including some conducted at Duke, have reported to the FDA attesting to the safety of the vaccine."
To find out if you should get the H1N1 vaccination, read this information. You can also visit the CDC's Website at http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/vaccination/general.htm.
Additional information is available by calling the Durham County H1N1 Vaccine Information Line at (919) 560-7882.
For information about H1N1 vaccine clinics in Wake County, click here. To find a regular flu vaccine clinic anywhere in NC, click here.
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