By John Lyon
Arkansas News Bureau

LITTLE ROCK — The number of Arkansans who have died from swine flu has risen to 13, a state Health Department spokesman said today.

The news comes on the heels of an announcement Friday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that the national death toll from the H1N1 virus has passed 1,000.

State Health Department spokesman Ed Barham said he could not release the names, ages or locations of any of the victims in Arkansas.

Two people in Arkansas have died this year from seasonal flu, Barham said.

The rising death toll from swine flu, at a time when shipments of the swine flu vaccine have been smaller than expected, has health officials concerned.

“We’re concerned that there will be more serious illness and death until the vaccine gets into wide distribution, so we would like to see things move pretty quickly now,” Barham said.

Mass vaccination clinics are planned across the state for Thursday through Saturday. At one time health officials were saying they hoped to offer seasonal and swine flu vaccinations to all Arkansans at the clinics, but because of limited supplies the vaccine will only be offered to three high-risk groups: Pregnant women; children ages 6 months to 4 years; and children ages 5-18 with underlying health conditions.

Season flu vaccine will be available to all at the clinics. Children are also receiving swine flu and seasonal flu vaccinations at school clinics across the state, if parents request vaccinations for their children.

By today, the state had been authorized to order 190,000 doses of the vaccine. Some 121,000 doses had been shipped to Arkansas by last Wednesday, according to the CDC’s Web site.

Health officials expect to be able to offer the H1N1 vaccine to all Arkansans at future clinics, probably sometime after Thanksgiving. Distribution will also expand to providers such as doctors, pharmacists and community clinics when supplies reach sufficient numbers.

A schedule for this week’s mass clinics is available here.