Health unit public information officer Daphne Clark said the first clinic is Tuesday at the Divide County High School in Crosby starting at 4 p.m. until vaccine runs out or 7 p.m. The health unit only has 40 doses of FluMist vaccine and the clinic is for children ages 2-18 with no medical conditions such as asthma or diabetes.
The Williston clinic is Friday starting at 2 p.m. and Clark does not yet know how many doses of vaccine is to be available. She said the clinic is for children 6 months of age to 18 years old and pregnant women.
"I don't know how much we're going to get," Clark said of the H1N1 vaccine. "I know we'll have 100 doses."
She said the health unit also has been identified for an allotment of another 180 doses, which she hopes arrive next week. "That is what I'm really hoping comes in between to boost our numbers," Clark said.
Area residents continue to call the health unit to find out when and where the next clinics are going to be held and why more vaccine isn't available.
"We've fielded some calls, done some explaining," she said. "People are being understanding. It's just trying to get information out there as to why we aren't having more clinics."
North Dakota Department of Health Immunization Program manager Molly Sander said one of the five vaccine manufacturers the United States intended to use has yet to been approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration. Sander also said there have been issues with the fill and finish aspect of the vaccine manufacturing that have contributed to availability delays.
Sander said North Dakota originally was to receive 109,000 doses of the H1N1 vaccine by Oct. 30. The latest count is now 54,585 dose.
Clark said the health unit intends to strictly follow the guidelines for the priority groups that are associated with the vaccine allocations.
"It is very hard. I had a caller who it could make you cry in the situation. It was heartbreaking, really," she said.
But she says if an exception is made for one person, others will ask for the same treatment.
"We just have to be so strict with the guidelines," Clark said.
The health unit continues to post the latest information regarding is H1N1 vaccination clinics on its Web site at http://www.umdhu.org. The clinic information also includes the number of doses for the clinic, if that number is known. This is to give residents a better understanding of how likely it is they may receive the vaccine at that particular clinic.
Clark previously said children use half the dose of vaccine that is required for an adult. Some children also may be able to take the FluMist vaccine via their nostrils, which allows more of the injectable vaccine to be available for others who can't take the FluMist.
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