KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) -- Health Department worker Charity Menifee doesn't even need to think twice about it. Her eight-month-old son Lachlan will get vaccinated against seasonal, and H1N1 (swine) flu.

"I think people are more concerned about the safety of not getting it," she says.

"What about the kids that are getting sick, and the adults that are getting sick?"

"No one anticipated it coming back as much as it has," says White Pine resident Jim Sipprell.

"And the number of deaths sort of proved the point."

Sipprell and his wife were at the Knox County Health Department Wednesday to receive their seasonal flu shots. Bothfigure they're old enough to have been exposed to an earlier strain of swine flu, so they're not getting the H1N1 vaccine.

"But that doesn't mean I don't considered it a threat," he says.
My HAM radio group recently ran a simulation, on how we'd cope with a widespread outbreak."

"We're giving it (the vaccine) out, as quickly as we can get it in," says Tom Jackson, a supervisor of employee services for East Tennessee Children's Hospital.

Neither Children's Hospital nor the University of Tennessee Medical Center have received the full shipments of vaccine requested. So both are inoculating their 'critical care' workers first; emergency and intensive care personnel.

Production issues present a two-pronged challenge for the health department; persuading patients that the vaccine is safe, and equipping care providers for a surge of swine flu patients.

"Did they speed up (the vaccine's) production? Yes they did," says Medical Director Dr. Martha Buchanan.

"Did they cut corners? No they didn't. We are watching it very carefully. We get data every day, from our hospitals, on how many beds we have available. If we have to, we can move patients around."

So far, Dr. Buchanan says, that hasn't become necessary.

"We plan to take care of the community with all our resources, and we plan to be able to handle any patients that come in," says UT Medical Center's Debbie Barton.

The Health Department has received about 4,500 dosages of the mist form of the vaccine. It ordered 10,000.

"We've offered it to local pediatricians to give to their patients," Dr. Buchanan says. "Especially those with asthma, who really need to be treated for this illness."

Lachlan Menafee is getting his vaccination by injection.

"If I give him his bottle, he'll barely feel it, " his mother Charity says.

"He'll be good to go."