NEW ORLEANS - According to Louisiana's Department of Health and Hospitals, the H1N1 virus also known as "swine flu", is spreading across the state.
DHH estimates more than 97,000 people in the state have already had the virus.
Friday, the Louisiana death toll from the disease rose to 20 as six more deaths were confirmed, including children in Monroe and St. Tammany Parish.
"In most circumstances, we are finding these folks had some co-occurring condition that put them in the high risk group," said DHH Secretary Alan Levine.
Health officials confirmed that the first 26,000 doses of the H1N1 nasal spray vaccine are finally arriving at doctors' offices across the state.
Pediatrician Dr. Michael Wasserman says his office has been bombarded with requests for the vaccine.
"We have a very busy office out here in Metairie," said Wasserman. "I'm told in the Ochsner system, my office is supposed to be the first place to receive the first doses of vaccine and as of this morning, we don't have it yet."
Neither do other major healthcare providers including Tulane and Children's Hospitals in New Orleans.
Dr. Wasserman says when the H1N1 vaccine arrives, the first doses will go to people most at risk.
"The first group are young children, six months to five years of age, healthcare workers, those people who care for or live with the youngest children and other people with serious, long term diseases," said Wasserman.
Dr. Wasserman says pregnant women should also get vaccinated, but should wait until the injectable form of the vaccine arrives.
He says misinformation about potential risks should not keep patients from getting the vaccine.
"I think that there's a fair amount of unscientific, unthought-out information that's available, primarily on sources like the internet," said Wasserman.
According to DHH officials, after this initial shipment of swine flu vaccines, doctors should receive more vaccine every five to ten days for the next three months.
"We're heading into about a two week period where we're in transition between having no vaccinations and then having enough to widely distribute," said Levine.
The H1N1 vaccine is expected to be available at a wide variety of New Orleans area providers in late October or early November.
