For more information on the state’s preparations for an H1N1 flu outbreak, visit www.maineflu.gov.

AUGUSTA — Maine’s top doctor said Thursday that she expects the state to receive enough H1N1 vaccine to treat the state’s population by mid-November.

A small shipment of H1N1 vaccine is expected in early October, to be followed by a much larger shipment mid-month.

“We’re sitting here with this naked immunity and this virus out there and it could take hold at any time,” said Dr. Dora Anne Mills, head of the Maine Center for Disease Control. “The good news is we’ve got the vaccine coming; it’s on the horizon.”

“We are expecting over 200,000 doses by the end of October,” Mills said at a news conference. “We have prioritized the first few shipments of vaccine to hospitals to vaccinate health care workers, to clinicians who care for pregnant women and to our schools to offer it to our children, including our residential schools, such as colleges and universities.”

Mills said pregnant women should schedule appointments with their clinicians around mid-October in order to get vaccinated. Many schools have signed up to distribute the vaccine to students, some in conjunction with their seasonal flu clinics.

For others, such as young adults and middle-aged adults with health conditions, Mills said the Maine CDC would set up some community-based clinics.

“Two-thirds of all cases in Maine are below age 25,” she said. “That is one reason, when the vaccine comes out, we’ll be focusing on children and young adults. I hope that by the winter holidays that everyone has been offered the H1N1 vaccine and that everybody accepts it. That’s the only way we are going to ensure widespread protection.”

If you are not in a high-priority group — not pregnant or a child or someone with underlying conditions — vaccines likely will be available in November through the same channels as seasonal flu shots.

“If you go into a private health care provider, your insurance company can be billed. If you don’t have insurance you will be charged a fee, the cap of which is $14.37,” Mills said.

If you get the vaccine at a school or a community clinic, it will be free, she said. “Your insurance may be billed, but we will provide it for free for those people who don’t have insurance.”

Mills said it is possible the vaccine will come in after H1N1 cases have escalated. Her biggest fear is outbreaks in residential schools and day cares.

“Once H1N1 really takes hold, it just spreads like wildfire and you can have a lot of people very sick pretty quickly,” she said.

The mortality rate of H1N1 is about the same as seasonal flu, but most of the deaths are among children and young adults, whereas 90 percent of the deaths with seasonal flu are among patients 65 and older, Mills said.

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