Children who need a second dose of the H1N1 influenza vaccine can get one during a special booster clinic set for next month, health officials announced Tuesday.

Kids age 9 and younger who received a first dose of the vaccine before Nov. 23 will be eligible for boosters during the Dec. 19 clinic.

It does not matter where a child received her first dose; any child who needs a second dose will be eligible to receive one at the booster clinic.

RiverStone Health, the county health agency, will mail reminder cards in early December to children who need boosters.

Young children need two doses of influenza vaccine to develop full immunity. The doses must be administered no fewer than 28 days apart.

Dec. 19 is a Saturday. The walk-in clinic will be held from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. at the MetraPark Montana Pavilion.

Meanwhile, an H1N1 vaccine clinic will not be held next Monday. Health officials do not expect to receive a shipment of vaccine this week because of the Thanksgiving holiday.

Vaccine has typically arrived in Yellowstone County on Thursdays or Fridays and been administered the following Monday during clinics at the Shrine Auditorium.

Because there is a shortage of H1N1 influenza vaccine, only people determined to be at high risk of becoming dangerously ill or dying from the virus may be vaccinated.

Pregnant women, caregivers or family members of babies younger than 6 months old, emergency and medical personnel, healthy children 6 months to 24 years old, and people age 25 to 64 who have chronic medical conditions are eligible to receive the vaccine.

Health officials plan to host another community vaccination clinic sometime in December. Future booster clinics are also being planned.

H1N1 is a new strain of influenza A that was identified in Mexico in March and first reported in Montana in May. It is still circulating in the commu-nity.

Unlike most strains of influenza, H1N1 has hit healthy children and pregnant women particularly hard.

Influenza usually affects the elderly and people with chronic medical conditions. It kills 36,000 Americans a year.

Contact Diane Cochran at dcochran@billingsgazette.com or 657-1287.