Richmond City Health District vaccinators will offer free H1N1 swine-flu vaccinations at the Greyhound Bus Station, 2910 N. Boulevard, from 6 tonight to 6 tomorrow morning. Vaccinations will be available to the general public and Greyhound customers. Both injected and nasal spray flu vaccine will be offered.

HCA Virginia hospitals in the Richmond area are no longer asking young visitors to stay away, a restriction put in place last year as levels of H1N1 influenza in the community surged.

About 30 percent of the H1N1 swine flu-associated deaths in Virginia occurred in African-Americans, the state health commissioner said yesterday. African-Americans make up about 20 percent of the population in the state. In Virginia, there were 36 confirmed H1N1-associated deaths—33 adults and three children. “What we learned from the CDC, who studied 10 different states, including Virginia, was that over the last year . . . 35 percent of the people who were hospitalized with H1N1 were African-American,“ said Dr. Karen Remley, Virginia health commissioner.

Visits to emergency departments and urgent-care centers for flu-like illness remain low in most of Virginia, with only a few health districts in the state reporting elevated flu activity. Experts are divided on whether there will be a third wave of H1N1 swine-flu outbreaks. The flu season so far has turned out to be milder than predicted, prompting some to ask whether the World Health Organization exaggerated when it declared a pandemic in June.

About 2.5 percent of visits to urgent care centers and emergency departments are for flu-like illness, according to the most recent data from the state Health Department. In late October to early November, flu-like illness accounted for 15 percent of visits. Health officials still want people to get the H1N1 swine-flu vaccine, noting that there is no way to predict how the rest of the flu season will play out. Flu activity usually peaks in the U.S. in January and February.

About 2.5 percent of visits to urgent care centers and emergency departments are for flu-like illness, according to state Health Department data.

The head of the World Health Organization says it is too early to declare that the swine flu pandemic has peaked worldwide.

H1N1 flu vaccine finally is arriving at pharmacies in retail stores such as Walgreens and Kmart . . . and even at the mall. A regional H1N1 flu-vaccine clinic is planned for 3-9 p.m. tomorrow at the Virginia Center Commons mall in northern Henrico County. “We are going to, through the health departments, have multiple different venues for people to see vaccine and get vaccinated,“ Dr. Karen Remley, Virginia’s health commissioner, said yesterday.

If you want to get an H1N1 flu shot, you still have to get it from a doctor’s office or health department. “We are telling doctors and health departments: ‘Don’t dissuade anybody who comes to your door to get vaccinated. Give that vaccine,‘“ Dr. Karen Remley, Virginia Health commissioner, said yesterday during a news briefing in South Richmond.

Health commissioner says the state should have enough vaccine within a week to allow vaccinations to be offered at pharmacies and other retail locations.

Virginia received 23,700 doses of H1N1 swine-flu vaccine from batches that are now being recalled by the manufacturer after routine follow-up tests showed the vaccine was weaker than expected. Vaccine maker Sanofi Pasteur is voluntarily recalling 800,000 pre-filled syringes intended for vaccinating children 6 months to 35 months of age.