The Chattanooga-Hamilton County Health Department has received 600 more doses of injectable H1N1 vaccine after its first round of swine flu shots quickly was depleted last week.

Because the supply of H1N1 vaccine in shot form is limited, the health department will offer it only to select high-risk groups, according to a news release.

That includes pregnant women, children ages 5-18 with chronic medical conditions and children 6 months to 23 months.

Some others who can't take the vaccine in a nasal spray also are eligible for a shot. They include children ages 2-4, those who live with or care for infants younger than 6 months old and people who work as health care or emergency medical personnel.

The FluMist nasal spray vaccine, which is available in Hamilton County and North Georgia, is safe for healthy, nonpregnant people ages 2 to 49 years old, officials said.

"Once an ample supply of the injectable vaccine has been established, target groups will be expanded to include a larger portion of our population," health department administrator Becky Barnes said in the release.

The arrival of the first 1,300 doses of the H1N1 flu shot in Hamilton County was announced Oct. 16 and all were claimed within days, the Times Free Press reported.

Northwest Georgia public health offices don't have any injectable flu vaccine, said Logan Boss, public information officer for Northwest Georgia Public Health. There are delays in production and distribution, and health departments don't know when they'll get supplies, he said.

"There is not a process in place that allows us to tell day-to-day when or what quantity or quite frankly what type of vaccine to expect, which is very frustrating for us and we know is very frustrating for people" in the counties, Mr. Boss said.

Limited amounts of the nasal spray H1N1 vaccine were available Monday at health departments in Catoosa, Dade and Walker counties, but those vaccines likely will go quickly, he said.

"We have been trying to reassure people that there will be more H1N1 vaccine by mid-November," he said.