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Alameda County health officials are preparing to receive and distribute their initial shipments of the vaccine to protect against the H1N1 virus.

Vanessa Cordova, spokeswoman for the county's Public Health Department, said the county should start to distribute its first shipment of the vaccine from the state to its network of clinics by the middle of this month. The county department, with help from cities themselves, also will distribute the vaccine at specific clinics on four Saturdays starting Nov. 7.

Cordova said the clinics will not turn anyone away. County health officials, however, are asking those who have health insurance to go to their physicians to get the vaccine.

County health officials are hoping to distribute the first round of the vaccine to those most vulnerable to the illness: caregivers to infants, health care and emergency medical personnel, children ages 6 months to 4 years old, and children and adolescents ages 5 to 18 years who have chronic medical conditions.

The initial supply of H1N1 vaccine likely will be the H1N1 flu mist vaccine. This form of the vaccine is not advised for pregnant women, even though that group is high on the vaccine priority list. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention instead endorses the vaccine shot for pregnant women.

Cordova said the county had no say in what type of vaccine it would get and that the H1N1 flu mist vaccine is the first one available to the public.

The county is expecting subsequent shipments, but the number of doses has not been set. The state is expected to receive about 400,000 doses. Cordova said the county requested about 30,000 doses initially, but it remains to be seen how many doses it will receive.

Cordova said as H1N1 vaccination supplies increase, the health department will continue to vaccinate other priority groups and all others who want it. She said the county is working out details about receiving and distributing the vaccine and will do its best to meet needs.

"The plans are in place to respond to the supply we receive and the demand of those who are not insured," Cordova said.

County health officials received word late Wednesday that it was the first county in the state to receive approval by the California Emergency Medical Services Authority authorizing paramedics ' in addition to doctors and workers at clinics ' to administer vaccinations.