Further delay anticipated for H1N1 vaccine

Minnesotans may not be able to get the H1N1 flu vaccine for several more weeks.

Health department immunization expert Kris Ehresmann said officials are getting the vaccine in small quantities, and those doses are going to high-risk groups, including health care providers, pregnant women and young pediatric patients.

However, Ehresmann said even those groups won't have full access to the vaccine for some time.

"Based from some of the numbers we've gotten from CDC and the feds, that by the end of October or early November we should be expanding to all the high risk groups, and then probably much later in November we would be able to open it up to the general public," she said.

Original projections had the H1N1 flu peaking in Minnesota in mid-October. But, Ehresmann says people have done a good job limiting transmission of the flu. She says that could buy some time, and allow people to get vaccinated before they're exposed to the virus.

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