Politics on the Hudson

   The H1N1 flu vaccine is becoming more widely available across the state, Gov. David Paterson announced today. County health departments are planning clinics that had been put off because the national supply has been lower than anticipated.

   “Due to delays in manufacturing the H1N1 vaccine, our statewide vaccination campaign has not been mobilized as rapidly as we had hoped,” Paterson said in a statement. “As we move into the middle of November, more H1N1 vaccine is becoming available, and health care providers are receiving more shipments. Some county health departments have already held vaccination clinics, and others are gearing up to hold them in the next two weeks.”

   New Yorkers should check with their doctors’ offices to find out about clinics or check the state Health Department’s Web site at www.nyhealth.gov.

   About 85 percent of counties outside New York City have either run clinics or plan to do so in the next few weeks. The first clinics are targeted to people in high-priority groups, including pregnant women; children and young people 6 months to 24 years; people who live with or care for infants younger than 6 months;  health-care workers and emergency medical-services personnel; and people 25 to 64 who have medical conditions that put them at a higher risk for serious illness and flu-related complications.

   As of Monday, 1.3 million doses of H1N1 vaccine had been shipped to parts of New York outside New York City, which does its own coordination of vaccine distribution.