Gov. Linda Lingle and the state Department of Health are not doing enough to get more H1N1 vaccine into the hands of doctors for high-risk patients, state Sen. Mike Gabbard alleged yesterday.

But a state Department of Health spokeswoman said the state has requested the maximum amount of swine flu vaccine allotted to it and is distributing it as quickly and fairly as possible to providers of vaccinations.

"We're in the middle of a pandemic and people who need the vaccine to protect themselves and their families can't even get it," said Gabbard, D-19th (Kapolei, Makakilo, Waikele). "Basically, what we've got right now are bureaucrats standing between patients and their physicians."

Gabbard, speaking at a press conference at the state Capitol, said he had been contacted by "three or four" constituents, doctors and others in the medical community who are frustrated with the DOH's vaccine distribution system.

He said doctors haven't had enough input into how the vaccine is being distributed and too much of the vaccine has gone to pharmacies instead of private physicians.

Swine flu has sickened thousands of people in Hawai'i and has been linked to 11 deaths. Health officials have said the H1N1 virus remains relatively mild, with most experiencing symptoms comparable to or less severe than seasonal influenza.

Leslie D. Huddleston, a registered nurse and physician's assistant, works for Dr. Alan Tice, one of the state's leading infectious disease experts. Tice has said it appears the vaccine is not getting to health care workers and other high-risk groups as quickly as it should.

Huddleston, whose name was provided by Gabbard, said yesterday that Tice had requested the vaccine that is given by injection instead of the nasal-administered form for "10 to 20 patients who have weakened immunity systems because they are elderly or have chronic conditions."

She said these people need vaccines that are injected, but the state had not been able to provide them.

Janice Okubo, spokeswoman for the Department of Health, said yesterday that there are 567 providers of the vaccinations in the state and the DOH "is getting vaccine to providers as quickly as possible."

The Health Department acts as the intermediary between the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which decides how much vaccine Hawai'i receives, and vaccinators, who place orders with the Health Department.

Okubo also said the DOH is recommending that healthy people between the ages of 2 and 24 use the nasal vaccine, to free up the vaccines that are injected for people more in need of them.