Kings County health officials will hold more swine flu clinics in Hanford, Corcoran and Avenal this Saturday, hoping to distribute about 1,200 doses of H1N1 flu vaccine for free.

It is the biggest step by far in Kings County toward making the vaccine widely available. It comes almost two weeks after a new batch of the vaccine arrived in the county health department.

Because of the limited supply of the vaccine, not everybody is eligible for vaccination at these clinics, according to the health department. The only groups that may receive the vaccine are children ages 6 months to 7 years old, medically fragile children ages 7-18, parents and caregivers of infants under 6 months old and pregnant women.

An injectable or nasal mist vaccine will be available, but officials are encouraging those who are eligible, healthy and not pregnant to take the nasal spray option.

Over the past two weeks, the county has distributed the vaccine to healthy care providers who see pregnant women and schools that have been impacted by a high incident of swine flu. The county has also been targeting preschools and day care facilities.

"The problem is, you can't really plan to have a large clinic unless you've got the vaccine in hand. Once you have it in hand, you need the lead time to make sure everybody has sufficient notice about it because equity is a big issue," said Dr. Michael Mac Lean, county health officer.

"We try to place (the three large clinics) geographically around the county so that nobody has to drive too far and everybody has a fair chance ... We decided that the Saturday clinic was the fair shot for everybody to have the best opportunity."

There is no cost for the vaccination.

But people wishing to receive the vaccine will be required to fill out a screening and consent form, which will be available at the clinics or online at www.countyofkings.com/Health/pdf/h1n1-combination-consent-form.pdf.

Parents who are unable to bring their children to be vaccinated can have a designee do so as long as they fill out and return a signed consent form.

Mac Lean also reminded that children age 9 and younger will need two doses of the vaccine -- optimally one month apart -- to get fully protected. The same recommendation applies to seasonal flu, he said.

The reporter can be reached at 583-2429.

If you go

--The Hanford Mall near Big 5, 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.

--Corcoran High School in the small gym, 9:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.

--Avenal Senior Center, 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.

For more questions, call the Kings County Health Department at 584-1401.

(Nov. 11, 2009)