Sometime in the next few weeks, the El Paso County Department of Health and Environment will receive and dispense the vaccine to protect against the swine flu, but beyond that, the plan of attack is unclear.

Local health officials don’t know how much of the vaccine they’ll get from the federal government, and until they do, they can’t say who will get it first.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has identified groups who should be first in line, based on which group is most likely to contract the disease or suffer serious complications. Those priorities include pregnant women, people in households with infants, and health care workers, to name a few. People 65 and older are lowest on the list, because — unlike with seasonal flu — they’ve proven to be the least affected by H1N1 and are at the least risk for it.

Even with priorities, distributing the vaccine is not as simple as checking each group off a list, said Kandi Buckland, public health director for El Paso County. Take health care workers. With limited vaccine, front line workers dealing with flu victims would likely get shots right away, while those with more indirect roles might not get a shot until much later, Buckland said. Or, the county may receive the vaccine in dosages for adults before it receives the vaccine in smaller dosages for children. And the nasal vaccine, which uses a weakened live virus, is not an option for pregnant women.

U.S. health officials have said the first swine flu vaccine could be in some doctors’ offices as early as Oct. 5, but specific locations have not been announced. The early batches of vaccine will protect 6 million to 7 million people, U.S. officials say. Over time, the government expects to have 250 million doses of the new vaccine, although 10 percent of that has been promised to other countries.—The Associated Press contributed to this report. Call Newsome at 636-0198. Visit the Pikes Peak Health blog at www.pikespeakhealth.freedomblogging.com and the Gazette’s Health page at  www.gazettedev.gazette.com/health.

Aerial shot July 30, 2002 of the remains of a home burned by the Hayman fire in the Turkey Rock area west of Highway 67. Photo by Mark Reis, The Gazette File

MARK REIS