Topeka ? 1:15 p.m.

The first shipments of H1N1 vaccine should arrive within a week, Kansas Department of Health and Environment officials said today.

Kansas will receive about 16,000 doses in the first allocation. The first Kansans to be vaccinated will probably be Tuesday or Wednesday of next week, officials said.

“We are pleased to be one step closer to receiving this new safe and effective vaccine in the state,” said KDHE Secretary Roderick Bremby.

The initial allocation represents only a small portion of the total number of people who should be vaccinated, officials said.

The priority of targeted groups includes people who live with or care for children younger than 6 months of age, healthcare and emergency medical services personnel, persons 6 months of age through 24 years of age, and people ages 25 through 64 who are at higher risk because of chronic health problems.

“Today is really just the beginning of what is going to be a very long vaccination campaign,” said Dr. Jason Eberhart-Phillips, the state health officer.

12:40 p.m. On Monday, Attorney General Steve Six warned Kansas veterans of a scam targeting them.

Calls are being placed to military veterans, telling them the Department of Veteran Affairs needs their credit card information to update prescription records.

But the calls are not coming from Veteran Affairs nor anyone acting on the government’s behalf, Six said.

On Wednesday, three Republican lawmakers said they would introduce legislation to increase the maximum fine for defrauding a veteran or the family of deployed military personnel to $20,000 from $10,000.

Those legislators are Senate Majority Leader Derek Schmidt of Independence, state Rep. Lee Tafanelli of Ozawkie, who is also a colonel in the Kansas Army National Guard, and state Sen. TIm Owens of Overland Park, who is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Schmidt also has announced he will seek the Republican nomination for attorney general in 2010. Six, a Democrat, has also said he will run.