While the entire country is worried about the upcoming flu season and the shortages of vaccine, Dallas County is working hard to get high-risk individuals vaccinated despite the shortages.

Dallas County Health Department Administrator Ashton Parikh said the state and the county is doing all it can.

“We are just waiting to see what the needs are,” Parikh said.

The shortage comes from a large batch of contaminated vaccine. Federal and international regulators determined a British supply of vaccine was unsafe to use, early in October.

Chiron Corp., based in Britain, was unable to supply 46 million to 48 million flu vaccine doses, due to British regulatory action. The FDA, which sent inspectors in early October, agreed that the company’s vaccine was unsafe to use.

State Health Officer Don Williamson said Friday the Department of Public Health will distribute its available supply – 60,620 doses – to county health departments to give shots Tuesday through Friday only to people considered most at risk for flu. Williamson estimates the supply will serve about one-tenth of the at-risk Alabamians who need shots.

The county getting the most doses is Jefferson, with 9,980.

Dallas County will receive 800.

On Friday, the department released a list of guidelines on who will be treated with the limited supply.

The list includes children under 2, adults 65 and older, women who will be pregnant through the flu season and health care workers.

Parikh urges those who don’t need the shots not to get them.

“We’re requesting healthy people not to take it right now,” he said.

From Tuesday to Friday, the Health Department will administer the doses to at-risk groups alphabetically, by last name.

The state health department conducted a telephone survey of health care providers last week, determining that the state has only received one-fourth of the 1.2 million doses ordered.

The Centers for Disease Control said vaccine manufacturers will provide vaccine directly to nursing homes.

People who can’t get shots at the health department next week may still have an opportunity. Williamson said the department’s statewide survey showed about 100,000 doses remain in the private sector in Alabama, and the department anticipates getting 37,500 more doses within six weeks. A distribution plan for those doses has not been determined, he said.

Williamson said no shots are being set aside for the health department’s staff.

Parikh says those who aren’t eligible for vaccine right now shouldn’t lose hope. It’s possible that more vaccine will be produced in time for the peak of flu season, in January.

Hopefully in January they’re saying we’ll get some more doses and take care of those people too,” Parikh said.

The vaccine won’t be distributed until Tuesday, and Parikh asked that anyone eligible wait until then.

“Right now I don’t have any vaccine,” he said.