Johnson County received 1,400 doses of the injectable H1N1 vaccine late Tuesday afternoon.

The priority is to distribute the vaccine to health-care workers throughout the county, said county health officer Craig Moorman.

“That’s our thrust right now,” Moorman said, adding the county has about 650 health-care workers.

About 400 doses have been sent to Johnson Memorial Hospital in Franklin, with plans to distribute doses to smaller hospitals, such as Valle Vista and Kindred in Greenwood.

The county is unable to stage large flu-vaccination clinics “until we have a lot more vaccines and a full complement, so we can address all the groups that have stipulations or limits,” Moorman said. “That’s the hard part.”

The county received its first batch of about 1,000 nasal mist vaccines last week; another 700 or so doses arrived this week.

Health officials are unsure when they might receive the next wave of vaccines.

Bill Oakes, director of business development at Johnson Memorial Hospital in Franklin, said that hospital today received 400 doses of the H1N1 vaccine from county health officials.

They are screening staff members now, and vaccinations will begin Friday, Oakes said.

“We’ll focus on front-line care givers who we’ve identified as at most jeopardy given their patient-care responsibilities,” he said.

Moorman, the county health officer, said he feels the pressure of getting the vaccines out to the public as quickly as possible.

“It’s hard to plan really concrete things with a lot of intangibles and a lot of unknowns,” he said. “We have everything planned as much as we can with a lot of flexibility.”