WENATCHEE — Phones are ringing off the hook at health-care facilities in the Wenatchee area as parents try to get some of the first doses of H1N1 flu vaccine to arrive in the valley for their children, local health-care providers say.

The bad news is the facilities expect to run out of vaccine within a few days.

The good news is that more vaccine will be coming.

“The message we want to get out there is that vaccine is arriving every week,” said Mary Small, director of community health and preparedness for the Chelan-Douglas Health District. “And in November, access should be pretty readily available to people who want it, and more will be coming in December.”

Health officials say the first doses are earmarked for children and they ask that adults wait to ask their doctor about the vaccine until it is available in larger quantities.

The first doses of the H1N1 vaccine — 1,200 total — were being distributed to patients Wednesday in Chelan and Douglas counties, with seven health-care facilities each getting a small percentage of the pie.

Getting between 100 and 300 doses were the Wenatchee Valley Medical Center, Columbia Pediatrics, Columbia Valley Community Health, Lake Chelan Community Valley Community Health, the Lake Chelan Clinic, the East Wenatchee Clinic and Central Washington Hospital Family Physicians.

Officials at most clinics said they will be giving the vaccine only to current patients. At Columbia Valley Community Health, Marlene Stoehr, director of clinical services, said walk-in patients may be able to get the vaccine but she cautioned that the wait at the walk-in clinic has been running up to three hours recently.

Walk-in patients at the Lake Chelan Clinic, which got 100 doses of the vaccine, will also be able to get the vaccine but clinic Administrator Barbara Berg suggested people call first to make sure doses are still available. “One hundred doses will go fast, once the word gets out,” she said.

At Columbia Pediatrics, which got 200 doses of the vaccine, office manager Debbie Smith said doctors and nurses are working off a waiting list of people who have called in already, asking about the vaccine. She said the number on the waiting list almost equals the 200 doses.

At the Wenatchee Valley Medical Center, Susan Hunter, pediatrics department manager, said of the 300 doses the Wenatchee clinic received, “I think it’s going to go quickly and I think we’re not going to have enough.”

The doses that are currently available are in the form of a nasal spray, which is expected to give people ages 10 and older immunity in seven to 10 days, Small said. Children ages 2 through 9 years old will need a booster dose four weeks after the first dose to have immunity.

She and other health-care providers noted that the spray mist vaccine can only be given to those ages 2 to 49 who are in good health. Among other things, those receiving the mist, because it is weakened live virus, cannot be pregnant, and cannot be allergic to eggs or have asthma, chronic blood disorders or muscular or nerve problems.

Small said the second supply of vaccine, which will include some doses of the injectable vaccine, should be available for distribution next week. Doses will be earmarked for children, pregnant women, children under age 3 and health-care workers who work directly with the public.

Pregnant women, the elderly, people with health problems and children between 6 months and 2 years old should not take the live nasal spray virus and should wait for the inactivated vaccine to become available, which will be in shot form. Shots, not the nasal spray, should also be the form given to those ages 50 through 64 with chronic conditions.

Dee Riggs: 664-7147

deeriggs@wenatcheeworld.com