About 22,000 recalled H1N1 flu vaccine doses have been distributed to New York City clinics and doctors’ offices.

The vaccine is considered safe, but is being recalled because it apparently has lost much of its potency. So far, the city has only been able to determine that about 1,250 of these have been administere, but Doctor Jane Zucker, the city’s vaccine chief, says she expects the number to rise.

ZUCKER: I would assume that nearly all these doses have been administered, because the vaccine for these young kids has been in short supply.

REPORTER: Nationwide, about 800,000 of the weakened vaccine are being recalled. Federal authorities say most people who received this version of the vaccine, which came in pre-loaded syringes, are most likely protected from the flu.

Doctor Zucker says parents of young children who received only the first of the two-shot series, should try to make sure they get the second.

-wnyc.org-