State health officials plan to have the H1N1 vaccine distributed to schoolchildren in a few weeks. But first they're trying to get the vaccine into people who need it the most — pregnant women, health care workers and young children with health problems.

That will take a few more weeks, according to Chris Adamski, chief of disease control at the state Department of Health and Human Services.

Adamski said distributing the vaccine to 452 hospitals and medical offices on their list is the fastest way to get the vaccine to the people who need it the most.

"The health care providers know who their pregnant patients are," Adamski said.

The state is keeping a tally of where the vaccine is going, but next week Adamski said it should have more data on how many people in the highest risk groups have received the vaccine.

So far, about 45,000 doses have been distributed in New Hampshire, but that number is changing almost on a daily basis, Adamski said.

"That number should increase by next week," she said.

The state is getting the vaccine out as fast as possible, but the demand is still greater than the supply of shots.

Meanwhile, some other New England states are distributing the vaccine at schools.

Vermont held its first public clinic last week and 1,300 people were vaccinated. School clinics just started in Maine and Rhode Island this week and will continue through the end of the year. Massachusetts, too, is distributing the vaccine only to those in high-risk groups.

"Their approach is just slightly different," Adamski said.

After the high risk groups have received the vaccine, schoolchildren, college-age students with health complications and day care providers are the next groups to be vaccinated.

The last in line are healthy adults and that won't be coming for a while.

But Adamski said nobody is really policing who receives the vaccine.

Health officials in New Hampshire and surrounding states aren't asking people about their health complications to make sure people fall into one of the target groups, she said.

"I don't think anyone is validating who receives the vaccine," Adamski said.

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