While health departments around the state are waiting to get shipments of influenza vaccine this month, some area doctors are already giving out the shots.

Despite a nationwide delay in production of the vaccine, doctors at the Vicksburg Clinic have started administering the vaccine.

“We ordered it last year and got it,” said John Moore, administrator of the Vicksburg Clinic. But, “we haven’t gotten all that we wanted.”

The Mississippi Department of Health received the first shipment of the vaccine this week. The initial batch of 1,990 of the 130,000 doses ordered for the state was sent to the Gulf Coast, where health department officials say the flu usually strikes first.

The rest of the state will see the vaccine in health departments in about two weeks, officials said.

To get the shot from a private physician, Moore said, people should call their personal doctor.

“Not all of the patients who want to get the shot will because of the limited supply,” Moore said.

He said doctors will use their own discretion when deciding whether to give the vaccine out to any patients or to give the priority to high risk people.

In June, flu vaccine manufacturers warned federal public health officials to expect delays in vaccine shipments. Initial shipments in the state and across the nation are being aimed at those considered at high risk for the flu.

Although the flu season in Mississippi does not usually start until mid-December or early January, the health department recommends the vaccine soon for those at high risk.