Fewer than 11 percent of Indiana residents have been vaccinated for swine flu, and health officials are still encouraging people to receive the shots even though the state hasn't seen any deaths from the illness since mid-February.
More than 1.3 million vaccines have been given since October, putting Indiana ahead of the national average for the inoculations, according to the state Department of Health.
"But only 13 percent of adults with chronic disease have been immunized," said Joan Duwve, the state's medical director for public health and preparedness. "We had hoped to do better with this population, because they are more susceptible to complications. But there is still time for them to get immunized."
The agency has recorded 39 swine flu-related deaths in Indiana since June and says that the frequency of the illness has receded along with the decline in fatal cases.
"We're back down to the level where we normally think of the flu season as being over," said James Howell, assistant commissioner for public health and preparedness. "But the virus is still circulating. There will be more cases of flu in the coming weeks, but not at the level we've seen the past few months."
An agency report issued Thursday said that 98.3 percent of specimens that tested positive for influenza at the state health department's lab since September were the swine flu strain -- meaning the seasonal flu season has been uncommonly mild.
"It's been a remarkably mild seasonal flu season," Duwve said. "Maybe the H1N1 flu crowded out the other strains, or maybe it was simply a mild seasonal flu season for other reasons. We just don't know."
Indiana was among the first states to receive swine flu vaccine shipments in October, allowing it to get in the hands of local health officials and doctors faster.
"I think we've done very well," Howell said of the state's response to the swine flu outbreak. "In many areas we've done better than a lot of states."
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.