Upper Missouri District Health Unit officials are hoping a change in location, an expected decrease in future shipments of H1N1 vaccine and an expanded priority group prompts a stronger turnout of area residents for Friday's clinic in Williston.

UMDHU public information officer Daphne Clark said H1N1 vaccination clinics the past two weeks attracted fewer people than expected or hoped. This past Friday's clinic saw a steady stream of people, but only about 300 doses of vaccine were used.

"We just didn't see a huge demand. We still had vaccine that we are carrying over to this week," she said.

Clark said most of this week's 500 doses of vaccine for the Williston clinic at Williston State College's old gym is carryover, as the health unit had about 800 doses going into this past Friday's clinic. The health unit also is holding a clinic today (Thursday) with an undetermined number of doses of vaccine in Stanley at the Memorial Building.

"We don't want it to be sitting here," Clark said of the available vaccine. Along with children ages 6 months to 24 years of age, pregnant women and caregivers of infants younger than 6 months, this Friday's clinic also is for people ages 25-64 with underlying health conditions. Examples of underlying health conditions include asthma, diabetes, heart disease, cancer or chronic lung disease.

Clark said this past Friday's clinic was opened to the older adults with underlying conditions, but the health unit didn't receive word in that regard until late that morning. So this is really the first clinic where the health unit has been able to promote availability of vaccine for that group of residents, she said.

The UMDHU serves Williams, Divide, McKenzie and Mountrail counties. Health unit officials estimate 80 percent of the residents in these four counties want to receive the H1N1 vaccine.

The age group estimates the health unit is working from include the following:

*6 months to 1 year old -- 105

*1-4 years old -- 820

*5-18 years old -- 3,668

*19-24 years old -- 1,959

*25-64 years old with underlying health conditions -- 4,016

This week's clinic is at WSC because the health unit has another clinic taking place on Friday at its offices.

"So we will be over to the college, plus they have one of our target groups," Clark said of students. "The college has some students there who might want to get their vaccine. If we are there they might stop in."

She said UMDHU staff have a theory as to why fewer people are attending the available H1N1 vaccine clinics.

"We're just thinking people are assuming people have been sick and that is what they had," she said.

But if a person's illness wasn't confirmed at H1N1 by the North Dakota Department of Health lab, they should really get vaccinated, Clark said.

"I know there is illness going around in the community. I don't know if it is H1N1, if it is a cold," she said. "If these people didn't go to see a physician, if they haven't been tested and confirmed that it is H1N1, they still should get vaccinated."

One of the key symptoms associated with H1N1 is a fever, Clark said.

"If they didn't have a fever, it is possible that it was a cold," she said. "Fever seems to be one of the key indicators of H1N1. It's usually in that 100-above category."

If people do get a fever, they should stay home for 24 hours, Clark said.

"The fever is the indicator that you need to stay home because you could have something more serious than the common cold," she said.

Meanwhile, Clark said the health unit is expecting less vaccine in the weeks ahead.

"We are being told we are not going to see large numbers again until December at some time," she said.

State epidemiologist Kirby Krueger said via e-mail the projections for H1N1 vaccine availability coming from the federal government have been unstable and depend on the manufacturing process.

"Decreases in the allocations to the states are a result of the manufacturer having less vaccine available to ship than what was expected," Krueger continued in his e-mail. "This does not mean that the overall amount of vaccine that will eventually be available will be reduced -- rather the vaccine will likely be shipped over a longer period of time."

Clark said all of the clinics in the four counties the health unit serves has seen vaccine remain.

"We stuck to the guidelines. So we know the vaccine went to those that it was intended," she said. "We would have liked to have seen more of them come in. They are still welcome to come. We're hoping to see this week that all of our vaccine goes."

The two remaining clinics this week each start at 2 p.m. and go through 7 p.m., unless the vaccine runs out.