AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) – The first doses of vaccine against the H1N1 flu are starting to arrive in Maine.

Augusta Fire Chief Roger Audette says some of the city’s emergency medical service employees were vaccinated against the swine flu on Monday. He says about 50 employees will be vaccinated.

Dr. Dora Anne Mills of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention tells the Kennebec Journal most vaccine doses set aside for health care providers are for those who have frequent, direct contact with patients.

Mills says Maine has received about 35,000 doses of H1N1 vaccine so far, far short of the 700,000 doses officials estimate will be needed.

Most of the vaccine will be set aside for children, who are most vulnerable to swine flu.

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Information from: Kennebec Journal, http://www.kjonline.com/