Today’s public clinic for swine flu vaccinations – the first in Pierce County – will have even less vaccine to give out than health officials thought earlier in the week.

The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department said Friday it will have 2,500 doses of H1N1 vaccine available today at Emerald Ridge High School, 12405 184th St. E., on Puyallup’s South Hill.

The department had estimated it would have up to 3,000 doses for the clinic, which is targeting Puyallup School District young people who are 2 to 24 years old and at higher risk for contracting H1N1 flu.

Even that amount was not expected to last long given the school district has more than 22,000 students.

Adding to the problem was a shipment of vaccine that did not arrive Friday as expected. Officials hope it will show up Monday, Health Department spokesman John Britt said.

Also Friday:

 •  The Health Department reported the flu-related death of a woman in her 50s. She was the second person in Pierce County to die of swine flu in a week and the sixth since April.

The woman, who died at a local hospital, had a confirmed case of swine flu and had underlying health conditions including asthma that contributed to her death, Britt said.

 •  The number of schools in the county with more than 10 percent absenteeism among students climbed to eight, up three from Thursday.

Today’s Puyallup clinic is scheduled to start at 9 a.m. and end at 4 p.m. or when the vaccine – 2,000 doses of nasal mist and 500 injectable shots – runs out. The nasal mist is for only healthy individuals; injectable shots can be given to pregnant women and children with asthma and diabetes.

Though the clinic is targeting young people in the Puyallup area no one in that age group who shows up from elsewhere in the county will be turned away until the vaccine is gone, Brit said.

“I’m expecting to run out,” he said.

The Health Department has received about 4,100 doses of vaccine so far and has distributed it to the Puyallup clinic, pediatric clinics and pediatricians, as well as hospitals in the county.

Brit estimated about 36,000 doses of vaccine, mostly nasal mist, was available to health providers in the county. Many providers get supplies directly from the national distributor, he said.

County officials still expect to get its full share of 550,000 doses at some point, Britt said.

Not knowing the amount or kinds of vaccine that are coming has made planning for five other school-based clinics difficult, he said. At this point, no dates for the other clinics are firm.

The next tentative school clinic is Nov. 1 at Bethel High School in Spanaway.

“If we don’t get the vaccine, we will have to cancel them or seriously modify them based on what we get next week,” Britt said.

Mike Archbold: 253-597-8692

mike.archbold@thenewstribune.com