With the H1N1 flu vaccine in short supply, some adults have complained about children getting the vaccine before adults. They’ve asked why, said Dr. Dora Anne Mills, head of the Maine Center for Disease Control.

The answer is that H1N1 is hitting young people the hardest. Putting the vaccines in schools will protect everyone, Mills said. “Schoolchildren are the major transmitters of flu in the community.”

Nationally, there have been more than 1,000 deaths from the swine flu, but Maine has had only one death, and that person had other health problems, Mills said. But the illness is widespread through Maine, she said. “There are lots of schools with H1N1. That’s where you’re going to see it first.”

Health care providers are reporting increases in flu cases, although numbers of H1N1 cases in Maine are not available. “We’re not testing individuals,” Mills said.

So far, there has not been a big increase in people being hospitalized for H1N1. Mills expects that could change. The good news, she said, is that more vaccine is on the way.

— Bonnie Washuk