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The county health department is not keeping doses of the vaccine in stock in their offices.
The department instead adopted a policy of distributing the vaccines to area care providers.
Those looking for the vaccines, which are still very limited in the county, are asked to contact their doctor or clinic.
The odds of finding a clinic stocking some of the 500 doses are slim, however, as early rounds of vaccine are prioritized for high-risk groups, including care providers themselves.
Traditional vaccines administered through a needle injection should be available in the coming weeks, said Conn Roden, Franklin County Health Department director.
The nasal spray does not act like a traditional spray in that there is little to no sinus drainage, Roden said.
"The FluMist is just an ideal way to administer a vaccine with very little or no discomfort at all," he said.
FluMist, made by MedImmune, also are offered for seasonal flu vaccines.
Seasonal flu vaccines in spray and injection forms are already available.
"We plan on using the (H1N1) vaccine to target children and health care workers," said Nursing Supervisor Lana Langhorst.
"The H1N1 vaccine must be given on a prioritization basis. At this time, we plan to distribute the vaccine to many different medical facilities that have signed an agreement to be a provider," she said.
Vaccines for children under age 2, adults over age 49 and pregnant women also are still being developed and tested.
Just as with the seasonal flu vaccines, different types of vaccines, made by different companies, are meant for different age groups.
Each clinic and doctor's office might not carry every type.
Last week officials at Patient's First Urgent Care said they only administer seasonal flu shots to those 18 and older, while the medical center's pediatric unit said they have plenty of seasonal flu vaccines for children in stock.
Vaccine manufacturers are expected to ship as many as 365,000 doses, including up to 250,000 in injectable form, over the next two weeks, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.
State health department director Margaret Donnelly said in a press release that the small number of doses sent out were because of the decision to make the vaccine available quickly.
"The decision was made to ship vaccine immediately so we could start protecting people against this disease as soon as possible," she said.
"Every week we'll get notified of how many doses we'll get the following week," Roden said. "It's just got to get here. We've been getting a lot of calls asking if we have it right now, but right now it's very limited.
"In the near future we're going to have, at least according to the official notices we've been getting, more than adequate amounts to give out to all the people who want it," he said.
"There is going to be a stretch of time here when some people who want immunizations will have to wait to get them," Roden said.
The traditional injectable version available in the future will use an inactivated form of the virus.
Once injectable vaccines are available, people will need to take note of the different administration methods of wanting both seasonal and H1N1 flu vaccinations.
If receiving injections, people will be able to be vaccinated for both the seasonal flu and H1N1 at the same time.
Those getting a H1N1 nasal spray vaccination and seasonal flu vaccine mist must wait four weeks before getting the other.
People on antiviral medications also should not receive the aerosol mist vaccines, according to the state health department.
"Eventually we're going to get to those people who are not in those risk groups and it's going to be available for all children and adults," Roden said. "That's ultimately where we're headed."
Donnelly said she expects vaccine amounts in the state to meet goals by mid-October.
She did not say what those goals are.
Neighboring St. Charles County reported it received 1,900 doses at the beginning of last week. St. Louis County officials said they received about 5,000.
St. Charles County officials said their vaccines were shipped directly to health care providers from the manufacturers to reduce delays.
"Providers are receiving this first shipment weeks earlier than initially projected," said Gil Copley, director of the St. Charles County Department of Community health and the Environment.
"We expect more doses to arrive weekly," he said. "As these shipments arrive, health care providers will be able to vaccinate more members of our community."
While the majority of Americans wait, parents and others are encouraged to seek medical attention for flu symptoms in children younger than 5 or with high-risk conditions including asthma, cerebral palsy, diabetes or heart, kidney or liver problems.
Signs to seek immediate medical help include:
Fast or troubled breathing; bluish skin color; lack of thirst; failure to wake easily; irritability; a sudden improvement of symptoms followed by a return to fever and cough; or fever with a rash.
The H1N1 virus has been linked to over 70 fatalities since April including many young children, who seem more adversely effected by the flu.
