By CINDY GEORGE
Houston Chronicle

Oct. 28, 2009, 10:34PM

Harris County has exhausted its supply of the injectable H1N1 vaccine, meaning pregnant women and children 6 months to 2 years old should go to city public health clinics for an inoculation, officials said Wednesday. 

"It's no longer ‘bring your baby to our clinic,'" said Rita Obey, spokeswoman for Harris County Public Health and Environmental Services. 

The county still has the nasal spray form of the vaccine, which is only for healthy people ages 2 to 49.  

Wednesday was the area's first day of mass H1N1 vaccinations, prompted by substantial shipments received by the city and county health departments. 

The city health department opened 10 vaccination sites after getting more than 23,000 doses. The county began offering vaccines to the public on Monday, giving out roughly 2,700 in the first two days. 

Because of today's weather forecast, two city clinics were relocated. The Alief WIC clinic moves to the Southwest Multi-Service Center, 6400 High Star (already a vaccination site). The Northwest WIC clinic will be at the Acres Home Multi-Service Center, 6719 W. Montgomery. 

The city has enough vaccine to "carry into next week" with its H1N1 vaccinations, Houston health department spokeswoman Kathy Barton said. "We anticipate we could go about 250 doses per site per day. I expect some of those sites could go higher." 

City clinics still have both forms of vaccine — the shots and the nasal spray. Other providers have indicated that the doses ordered for their patients have started to arrive. Late Wednesday, Baylor Clinic obstetricians received vaccine for some of their patients.  

Texas health officials expected to have 3 million doses statewide by mid-October, but less than 1 million had arrived as of last Wednesday More vaccine is on the way. 

The Galveston County Health District will have 5,000 doses of injectable vaccine available Friday and Saturday at Mall of the Mainland in Texas City. 

And while doses have trickled in, Barton noted that the federal government has ordered enough for everyone who wants one to eventually receive the vaccine. 

"Nobody needs to show up at any site at 6 o’clock in the morning," she said. "We need to be patient."

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Kurt Koopmann

kkoopman@gchd.org