The Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department has received 17,500 doses of H1N1 vaccine so far.

It initially received 4,700 doses during the week of Oct. 19 and then received only 900 the following week, but since then the shipments have been about 4,000 per week.

This week, the department is having immunization clinics at private schools and after-school programs like the Boys and Girls Club of Lawrence.

By the end of the week, there will have been 30 clinics since the vaccine first arrived.

Besides providing clinics, the department has been distributing doses to Kansas University, Baker University, Lawrence Memorial Hospital, private health providers and others.

“My sense is that we are doing a pretty good job of getting the vaccine in and getting it out, so that it’s not sitting in the refrigerators,” Dan Partridge, director of the health department, said during a board meeting Monday night.

As of Nov. 7, Douglas County providers had given 6,115 vaccinations. During those first three weeks, just over 50 percent of the doses were given to people between the ages of 6 months and 18 years.

Last week’s data won’t be available until today, but Partridge said it was the busiest week for immunizations. For example, the health department provided 2,800 vaccinations at Lawrence public schools alone, in addition to other providers. The week before, all providers in the county gave 2,579.

Partridge said that there have been no lines during the last hour or two of all of its vaccination clinics except one. That was the first clinic on Oct. 21 at Haskell Indian Nations University.

“Now, we are wanting to give the vaccine and no one is there,” he said.

Partridge said he was looking forward to the day that the department could offer the vaccine to anyone who wanted it. He said the priority groups have been confusing for people and he thinks that might be why they haven’t given out more doses.

“That whole priority group thing is one of our biggest headaches,” he said. “I would like to get to the general population as soon as possible, so we can get that piece of confusion out of the way.”

First, the health department will have a couple of community clinics open to anyone in the priority groups — those most at risk of suffering severe complications if they get the virus.

The clinics will be from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday and from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 3. They both will be at the Community Health Facility, 200 Maine.

The H1N1 priority groups have been reopened to cover:

• People 6 months through 24 years of age.

• Daily care providers and household members of children younger than 6 months of age.

• Pregnant women

• Health care and emergency services personnel who have direct patient contact.

• Adults ages 25-64 with chronic health conditions.