The first batch of swine flu vaccine reached Dallas on Monday, just as county health officials were announcing the sixth and seventh deaths from the outbreak.

None of the initial vaccine supply will be available to the public, health officials said.

The 700 doses of H1N1 vaccine will inoculate emergency responders – doctors, nurses, medics and other caregivers who have hands-on contact with flu patients, said Zachary Thompson, director of the Dallas County Department of Health and Human Services.

The first batch of vaccine is a nasal mist that can be used only on healthy people, ages 2 to 49. It contains a live virus that cannot be given to pregnant women and people with health conditions that place them at high risk for severe flu symptoms.

"Clearly we thought we were going to receive more," Thompson said. "Seven hundred doses are not even measurable as to what is needed in Dallas County."

The health officials sounded a bit worried that their announcement would send panicky patients to local clinics and doctors' offices that do not have the flu vaccine yet.

"Do not rush out and try to find H1N1 vaccine," Thompson cautioned. "Check with your primary care provider."

None of the H1N1 vaccine is believed to have been shipped yet to local doctors or clinics. Tens of millions of doses will be shipped over the next few months – as quickly as they are manufactured.

More than 1,100 doctors, clinics and hospitals in Dallas County have registered to receive the vaccine. Their identities have not been made public.

Thompson said the Dallas County health department was also developing a plan to distribute large quantities of the vaccine to the public whenever the doses finally arrive.

"If you have enough vaccine on the ground, you don't worry about a stampede," he said.

The latest swine flu fatality was a 35-year-old Dallas woman who had "multiple underlying medical conditions," according to health officials. They declined to identify the woman or say when she died.

The other victim was Heather Provorse, a 25-year-old Lancaster woman who died Friday from the flu, according to her mother, Deborah Hatchel of Lancaster.

The county confirmed her death and said she, too, had underlying medical conditions.

Officials noted that all seven deaths were associated with the H1N1 virus and that no other flu strains are known to be circulating in North Texas.

Other major U.S. cities are experiencing similar numbers of swine flu-related deaths, said Dr. John Carlo, Dallas County's medical director and health authority. It's difficult to compare swine flu with previous flu outbreaks because it is a novel virus that is striking mainly the young.

The death toll probably would be higher except that older people are not contracting the swine flu like they would in a normal season.

"This is an illness of younger people, mostly sparing individuals over 65," Carlo said. "There's a lot of children who are sick in the community."

Countywide, schools are reporting an average 6 percent absenteeism related to the flu. Hospitals are seeing double and triple the number of emergency room visits by people under age 18, Carlo said.

Still, the vast majority of people who get the flu recover after three or four days of illness. Those with chronic lung disease, asthma and other breathing problems can be at higher risk for severe symptoms.

Since H1N1 was first detected here in April, 154 people have been hospitalized in Dallas County, 25 of them in intensive care. Their average hospital stays are three days.

"Forty hospitalizations were reported in the last week, which is the highest since April," Carlo said. "We don't know at this point if we're flattening out or still going up."

Officials were hoping that the newly developed H1N1 vaccine would arrive in time to stem the local flu outbreak. State officials announced last week that the early vaccine allotment would be half as large as expected.

Although clearly disappointed by the small amount of vaccine that reached Dallas on Monday, county health officials announced that they would continue to tell the public whenever more vaccine arrived.

The Tarrant County Public Health Department announced Monday only that it had received "limited doses" of the vaccine and that plans to distribute it were being finalized.