Of the 108,000 doses of H1N1 influenza vaccine distributed in the state so far, Black Hills Pediatrics and Neonatology has received about 600 doses.

That's not enough, says Dr. Willis Sutliff, a pediatrician at Black Hills Pediatrics.

"We have high-risk patients that we are unable to give H1N1 vaccine to," he said. "We are desperately trying to get as much as we can for those high-risk kids."

The state is working to do the same thing by distributing the vaccine to both private clinics such as Black Hills Pediatrics while at the same time holding public immunization clinics, says Health Secretary Doneen Hollingsworth.

"I think we are being very fair, very consistent. We can't overlook the importance to a lot of people of these public events," Hollingsworth said. "We're frustrated by the amount of vaccine that we get, but we are doling it out. As soon as it comes into Pierre it is immediately distributed."

Sutliff argues that pediatric clinics that treat high-risk patients should be given access to more doses to ensure their patients are covered. Sutliff said he has six pages with the names of young patients with asthma who have not been able to get the shot at Black Hills Pediatrics. "I have been very frustrated," he said.

Sutliff believes the state has unfairly distributed the majority of the doses to their public clinics, leaving patients at private clinics out in the cold. "I think there's been a real tilt toward the public clinics away from their long-time providers," he said. Sutliff said patients tell him they would prefer to have their shots done in their own clinic.

He would prefer that too, especially for high-risk children with health problems. Standing in a crowd of people during flu season isn't in their best interest, he said.

Black Hills Pediatrics has had to cancel four immunization clinics due to vaccine shortages and they expect to cancel two to four more. For now, the clinic is forced to tell patients to attend a public vaccination clinic. It's not something Sutliff is happy to do.

"They (SD Department of Health) did not give high-risk pediatric children with chronic illnesses as much thought as they did the public clinics," he said.

Hollingsworth understands the frustration. She feels it, too. But she points out that the Department of Health must think about the entire state. "We're certainly not shorting any office or practice. It's our job to look at the whole state," she said.

Hollingsworth said providers in South Dakota asked her during a recent telephone conference to add more public immunization clinics to help them meet the demand.

So far, the public clinics have been hugely successful and more are planned all the time, she said Hollingsworth hopes parents of high-risk children will take advantage of the free clinics to ensure their children get immunized, even if they can't do it in their own clinic.

Contact Lynn Taylor Rick at lynn.taylorrick@rapidcityjournal.com or 394-8414.