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To find out more about the swine flu and future vaccination plans, call the Health Department's H1N1 information phone number at (919) 560-7882.

BY KEITH UPCHURCH

kupchurch@heraldsun.com; 419-6612

DURHAM -- Fear and confusion may be keeping some Durham residents, especially blacks, from getting their H1N1 flu shots, so the Health Department may go deeper into the community to offer the vaccines, according to officials.

That's the word from Gayle Harris, director of the Durham County Health Department.

In a recent interview, Harris said: "We may go into communities at some point. We want to identify those at greatest risk, and if they're not coming to us, then we may have to go to them with some vaccination effort.''

She said those sites could include churches, community centers and schools.

"We're trying to get very flexible with this approach, because we want to get vaccinations into the arms of our residents.''

Harris earlier this month had expressed concern that too few blacks are getting the vaccines, and she said she still feels that way.

"There really should be more [blacks getting the vaccine], because there are more of us who fall into the risk categories,'' she said.

But fear of the vaccine, especially among many blacks, may be needlessly keeping them from getting the protection they need, Harris said.

"I would like to re-emphasize the fact that the vaccine is safe,'' she said. "It's just as safe as the seasonal flu vaccine. Different viral strain. Same process.''

"It's amazing the number of individuals that I talk to who really are afraid,'' she said. "And I think the newness of the virus has confused people. The fear is around the vaccine, while it's the new virus that we're mostly concerned about.''

She worries that those in the high-risk groups who fail to get their shots and contract the flu could develop serious complications.

"If they get it and it develops into pneumonia, there is the potential for some really bad outcomes,'' she said, adding that they could wind up in intensive care for weeks, or die.