The H1N1 vaccine came out sooner than expected, but in smaller amounts. So vaccination efforts continue to focus on high risk groups.

Just 20 blocks from our FOX News Atlanta Bureau (where I’m writing this blog), Emory University Hospital Midtown is vaccinating pregnant women. And in New York City, public schools are sending students home with parental consent forms for a pediatric vaccine campaign to begin next week.

Most of us outside the high risk groups, however, will likely have to wait well into November before we can get the shots.

In the meantime — many hospitals, local governments and other entities are taking precautions to slow the spread of H1N1, or at least prevent the virus from disrupting operations.

In Minneapolis, Hennepin County Court officials are issuing 20 percent more jury summons than normal. They’re also doubling the number of alternate jurors assigned to trials.

That way, even if some members of the jury pool get sick with H1N1, the trials are likely to proceed on schedule.

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Making biodiesel in a high school lab.

What if school buses could run on fuel made by students? It’s happening on a small scale at East Burke High School in Connelly Springs, NC.

Science teacher Bob Smith is showing students how to turn used cooking oil from a local restaurant into biodiesel fuel for use in school buses. In the process, his students learn about chemistry, environmental science and even public speaking (the school’s biodiesel program, after all, is attracting local and national media attention).

“We wanted to do something hands on in the lab that would utilize classroom lessons with a real world problem,” Smith said. The instuctor also hopes the biodiesel project will encourage some of his students to pursue careers in science and engineering.

“We’re using chemistry in everyday life,” said Nou Yang, a high school senior who is considering a career pediatric medicine. “Cooking is chemistry. We’re just not baking a cake, it’s about molecules reacting to each other.”

The same goes for driving.

The process of refining vegetable oil into an odorless fuel takes about 6 to 7 hours of work in the lab followed by an overnight waiting period to allow the product to settle.

At the conclusion, students load the fuel into a school bus and watch their work in action. Click here to see the live demonstration they did for FOX News Channel.

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“If I could wave the vaccine magic wand or we could consult the Hogwarts Medical School, we’d have had a vaccine back in May,” said Jay Butler, MD. The director of the CDC’s H1N1 Vaccine Task Force was jokingly referring to the fictitious Hogwarts boarding school of wizardry in J.K. Rowling’s popular Harry Potter book series.

In the real world, the amount of time it took researchers and public health officials to develop and begin distribution of an H1N1 vaccine is on the faster end of the spectrum of what experts had predicted.

“We anticipated that it would probably be six to nine months after a pandemic is identified before a vaccine would actually be available,” Butler said. “Here we are, barely six months into the pandemic, and we’re starting to see vaccine available for administration.”

Today, the first doses of H1N1 vaccine arrived at hospitals in Memphis, Tenn. and Indianapolis, Ind. in the form of a nasal spray.

At these two locations, health care workers are getting vaccinated first. Local health officials said this is to prevent health care workers from getting sick and missing work at a time they are most needed, as well as to reduce the chances of them spreading the virus among hospital patients — who often have weakened immune systems.

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State and local governments have begun placing orders for H1N1 vaccine. The first 600-thousand doses will be distributed by Tuesday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

More than 250-million doses are expected over the course of the fall and early winter. Federal health officials say this will be enough to accommodate everyone who wants to get the vaccine, however its availability will be sporadic during the first days and weeks.

One of the top priorities during the initial phase of the vaccination campaign will be pregnant women. They are at much higher risk for suffering complications from H1N1 than from seasonal flu.

According to CDC figures released today, H1N1 has caused the deaths of 28 pregnant women in the U.S. so far, and is responsible for approximately 100 intensive care unit hospitalizations.

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With the first doses of 2009 H1N1 vaccine expected in early October, many Americans will have already been exposed to the virus — which was first identified in April. A common question is whether someone who’s already been sick still needs to get vaccinated — or whether they’re already protected.

The short answer is: Yes AND yes, according to experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“People who have actually been infected with the 2009 H1N1 virus likely do have some immunity,” said Jay Butler, MD, chief of the CDC’s 2009 H1N1 Vaccine Task Force. “But the important issue is whether or not they know that’s what they were actually infected with.”

Most suspected H1N1 cases are diagnosed without laboratory confirmation.

“Early in the epidemic, we had other strains of influenza circulating,” Butler said. “There are other viruses that can make people ill as well. So, even if someone has had an illness that’s similar to influenza, even if there was perhaps a credible diagnosis of H1N1 infection made, our recommendation would still be to receive the vaccine so that you know that you’re immune.”

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