Twenty-three people received the H1N1 vaccine Thursday at the Walker County Health Depart-ment in LaFayette. Thursday was the first day it was available in Walker.

The health department has began the day with 300 available doses of the vaccine.

“This is a slow beginning to a marathon, not a sprint,” said Logan Boss of Northwest Georgia Pub-lic Health. “It is designed to be the largest mass vaccination in U.S. history.”

Georgia health departments are currently offering the nasal spray vaccine to healthy children ages 2-4. “We have had to turn down many people statewide who weren’t healthy enough to take the vaccine,” Boss said.

Vaccines will become available to older children and adults in the coming weeks, with the in-jectable vaccine expected to arrive later in October.

Boss expressed concern that people may have begun to dismiss the H1N1 strain as mild. He en-couraged residents not to underestimate the importance of being vaccinated, saying that health officials “have a high degree of confidence in the vaccine.”

Officials anticipate an increase in the spread of H1N1 cases as children transmit the virus to their parents in what Boss calls “the second level of transmission.”

“We have not seen any changes in the strain of H1N1,” Boss said. “The symptoms are identical and the treatment is the same.”

While the regular flu season can be expected to flare up later this fall, he added, “ninety-nine percent of the flu circulating now is the H1N1 virus.”

The LaFayette Health Department is currently offering the nasal spray vaccine to toddlers by appointment Monday through Thursday, with the exception of Monday, Oct. 12, which is a federal holiday. To schedule an appointment, call the Health Department at 706-638-5577.