With the threat of flu hovering over nearly everyone in Linn County, vaccine, especially seasonal flu vaccine, has become more and more scarce.

"There is no seasonal flu vaccine to be had anywhere," said Jane Fleischbein, supervising public nurse for Linn County. "We are hoping that we will have something in by the end of November."

Fleischbein said a much higher demand than normal is the main reason. "A lot of people got immunized early this year and the vaccine just ran out."

In the meantime, H1N1 vaccine is still trickling in each week but not at the levels Fleischbein would like to see.

"This week we got a little larger shipment than we've been getting," said Fleischbein, "but it's only about 14 percent of what we actually need for our priority groups."

Considered priority groups are those 6 months to 24 years old, middle-aged people with chronic conditions, pregnant women, health care workers, and people living with infants up to 6 months old.

She said distribution is to hospitals first since they are able to filter it down to providers in their system. Small school districts like Scio and Harrisburg have received some shipments and the county has been able to hold a few clinics.

"We hope we will be able to hold a few more," said Fleischbein.

Since September there have been 12 Linn cases of influenza A, which includes seasonal flu and H1N1. Six of the cases have been confirmed as H1N1, according to Fleischbein, and there are still three diagnoses pending.

She said that absenteeism is up at local schools.

"Unless there is hospitalization, testing is no longer provided for every case," she said.

"We're waiting and hoping for more. Even the state doesn't know how much will be shipped," Fleischbein said about the both seasonal and H1N1 vaccine. "Manufacturing of the vaccine has just been a lot slower than we expected."