OMAHA (AP) - The biggest challenge for Nebraska health officials trying to vaccinate people for swine flu continues to be the relatively small number of doses available. The state has received 208,000 doses of vaccine thus far, and state and local officials have distributed those according to population and need. But that's well short of the 1 million doses state officials expect to ultimately receive.

"We certainly wish we had more vaccine available now to meet demand," said Leah Bucco-White, a spokeswoman for the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. Most of the doses have gone to doctors' offices and hospitals so far, but some local health departments have also started offering public vaccination clinics. Many of those vaccination clinics, including several around Omaha in the past week, have attracted long lines.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control divides up the vaccine by state based on population. Nebraska health officials follow a similar model by allocating vaccines by population to local health departments. Local health officials then decide the best way to distribute the vaccine in each community to reach high-priority groups the CDC has identified, including everyone between 6-months-old and 24-years-old, pregnant women and health care workers.

"Overall, I would say distribution is going well - once it gets here," Bucco-White said. Tim Timmons, who supervises the vaccine program for the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department, said vaccine shipments have grown since they started last month, and his department has received about 26,000 doses so far. "We are getting more doses, but we're not even close to having enough doses to cover all the priority population," Timmons said.

Health officials estimate 185,000 doses will be needed to vaccinate all the people in the high-priority groups in Lancaster County. A vaccination clinic is being planned for Lincoln, but Timmons said that's not likely for at least a few more weeks because there's not enough vaccine available. All the doses received in Lancaster County so far have gone to doctors' offices and hospitals. "We're turning it around and putting it out as quickly as it comes in," Timmons said.

Swine flu is currently widespread in 48 states, including Nebraska. Hawaii and Mississippi are the exceptions. Nebraska officials have said 10 deaths in the state have been linked to swine flu.

CDC officials said 129 children have died from swine flu complications since the virus was first identified in April. About two-thirds of them had other health conditions, such as asthma or neurological problems such as cerebral palsy or muscular dystrophy. The government does not keep a close count of all swine flu deaths, but estimates the number is above 1,000. Officials say most people have been able to recover at home without needing medical care.

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