LEWISTON – Fewer people than expected have requested flu shots at clinics scheduled for high-risk patients Saturday.

Health officials couldn’t nail down a reason Tuesday for the dearth of requests for letters certifying patients’ high-risk status. But they’re encouraging anyone who meets criteria for the scarce flu vaccine to contact their physicians quickly.

The doctors’ letters must be brought by patients to the clinics in order to get a shot. St. Mary’s Regional Health Center and Central Maine Medical Center are cooperating to sponsor 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. inoculations.

“We don’t have as many people calling us as we should,” said Kayt DeMerchant. She’s St. Mary’s community relations manager.

DeMerchant said doctors associated with St. Mary’s had issued about 500 of the letters by late Tuesday afternoon.

“We really were expecting a huge flood of calls” after a news story about the clinics and an advertisement promoting them appeared over the past several days. “We even put extra people into the offices to help the staff handle the calls.”

Randy Dustin, DeMerchant’s counterpart at CMMC, said he couldn’t get a handle on hard numbers Tuesday, but understands that hospital’s response was somewhat stronger.

“I was told we had about 500 requests on Friday alone, after the story ran in the newspaper,” he said. He couldn’t reach doctors’ practices to get updated figures late Tuesday.

Each hospital had planned to inoculate at least 3,000 patients at their individual clinics.

Carolyn Reilly, a registered nurse who heads county’s emergency preparedness program for the state Bureau of Health, said last week that enough vaccine was being sought to give shots to 9,000 patients. She anticipated that as many as 9,600 people in Androscoggin County would request flu shots on Saturday. An estimated 36,000 are considered to be at “high risk” for flu-related problems, she said.

“I can’t say why the number of calls are down,” DeMerchant said Tuesday, since people weren’t calling to say they wouldn’t seek a shot.

She speculated that some people who live with chronic disease year-round might feel that they’re not ill enough to warrant a flu shot. Health officials had asked people who feel well to skip the shot this year due to the vaccine supply shortage.

DeMerchant also said there might be something akin to “Minnesota nice” happening in Maine.

Recent news reports from Minnesota note that far fewer patients are seeking vaccine in that state, deferring to others perceived to have greater need. Frustrated officials there said the excessive case of “Minnesota nice” courtesy could leave people who need vaccine unprotected against the flu.

DeMerchant and Dustin each said people living in Androscoggin County who qualify for vaccine should call their doctors and get the letters needed to attend the Saturday clinics.

“We are really asking people to call their physicians’ office before Friday to get that letter before Saturday,” said DeMerchant.

Reilly said earlier that both clinic sites are large enough to accommodate the people expected to attend them without leaving folks waiting in lines outside. If the lines get too long, she said people will be given numbers and asked to return later to avoid spending too much time in the cold.

Who is eligible for flu vaccine

• Adults 65 years and older who are in fair or poor health

• Adults who required regular medical follow-up or hospitalization during the past year due to:

– Chronic metabolic diseases, including diabetes, requiring medication.

– Kidney diseases requiring dialysis or medication.

– Blood disorders such as sickle cell anemia.

– Immunosuppression, including cancer patients receiving chemo or radiation therapy, or patients with HIV.