Dakotas deal with shortage of H1N1 vaccine

UNDATED (AP) — The uncertainty over weekly allotments of a limited supply of H1N1 vaccine has complicated efforts to organize immunization clinics and distribute it to hundreds of providers in North Dakota and South Dakota.

Shipments from manufacturers are going to states based on population. Health officials in South Dakota and North Dakota then allocate it under a formula meant to provide equitable distribution to local clinics and health care providers.

North Dakota Health Department official Molly Sander says the vaccine is arriving in small amounts each week.

Donned Hollingsworth, South Dakota's secretary of health, says not everyone who wants the vaccine has had a chance to get it yet.

Community immunization clinics are being held, but the amount of vaccine available is sometimes a last-minute discovery for organizers.