LIHU‘E — Though this week the number of flu cases in Hawai‘i is just elevated or at the historic baseline, flu season has arrived in the state earlier than normal, state Department of Health officials said.

“We’ve just been waiting for when it’s our turn,” said Dr. Sarah Park, state DOH epidemiologist.

Flu season usually doesn’t take full flight until late December, peaking in late January or February, she said.

And it is the very young and young adults who are in the priority groups who have not been getting their immunizations, said Park.

While there is ample supply of both injectable and nasal swine flu (H1N1) vaccines in Hawai‘i, they are still only available to the high-priority groups: pregnant women; people who live with or care for children younger than 6 months of age; healthcare and emergency medical services personnel; children and young adults 6 months through 24 years of age; and people 25 through 64 years of age who have medical conditions — for example, diabetes or heart trouble — that place them at high risk for complications from any influenza.

State data shows that many people in Hawai‘i ages 19 to 24 who are healthy are not getting immunized, and need to, said Park.

 “You’re not invincible,” so get the immunizations, said Park. There can be college campus outbreaks, and those ages 19 to 24 can walk into pharmacies or clinic providers with age-bearing photo identification and get the shot or nasal spray.

The Safeway store in Waipouli’s Kaua‘i Village shopping center has vaccinations available, offered without appointment to those in the high-priority categories. The pharmacy is open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. weekdays, and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekends.

The immunizations are available for those 18 and older only, and those interested can call ahead for insurance restrictions and to verify availability, 822-2191.

“And I would really encourage them to get vaccinated,” said Park, during the weekly DOH H1N1 update Thursday. “They are a huge target.”

Those ages 3 to 5 are also a “big concern” for the DOH, Park said. Providers such as pediatricians who service those in that age group will be getting shots and spray for these age groups if they don’t already have, she said.

And while there were no new resident deaths attributable to either swine or seasonal flu in Hawai‘i this week, a 5-year-old from Samoa who contracted the flu in Samoa and was flown here for treatment did die in Hawai‘i, Park said.

That shows the importance of immunizing children, she said.

The state DOH has been allocated over 217,000 H1N1 doses to order, and to date around 99,000 doses have made it to providers statewide, she said.

The continuing problem, as reported last week, is that providers have only reported back to state DOH officials administering only around 26 percent of those doses, she said.

“We’re still behind in terms of documentation.”

Still, in order to satisfy at least some provider demand for more doses, the state DOH has made 50 additional doses available to any provider requesting them, regardless of whether or not they have accounted for any and all earlier-issued doses, she said.

“We want to give these doses out, we really do,” but providers need to report back that they have given the earlier-distributed doses to those in the high-priority categories, Park said.

Active-duty military are getting immunizations from a source separate from the DOH, because they need to be healthy to fight, but their dependents also need to get vaccinated, she said.

Supplies of the H1N1 vaccine continue to “trickle” into the state, sometimes several times a week, with 5 percent of every weekly allocation set aside for “critical infrastructure folks,” including certain state and county workers on Kaua‘i, she said.

In addition to the state’s young people and others in the above-listed priority groups, those state and county employees deemed critical infrastructure people — those ensuring clean water, sanitation, transportation, taxation and other services that if halted would “be bad news” — are also high-priority for the immunizations, said Park.

To date, around three-fourths of those critical infrastructure people have gotten immunizations, including several county workers at a clinic Thursday.

Those deemed critical infrastructure people are identified as such through a coordinated effort with state and county Civil Defense agencies, the governor’s office and mayor’s office, said Park.

• Paul C. Curtis, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or pcurtis@kauaipubco.com.