“The response has been enthusiastic among typhoon survivors,” said Wen Ming-fu, head of the health office of Alishan Township in southern Taiwan's Chiayi County.

Morakot-affected people and health care personnel have been given top priority by the government to be vaccinated against the swine flu, officially known as influenza A (H1N1) and are the first to receive the shots in Taiwan.

Wen led medical staff in administering H1N1 shots at the Leyeh prefab housing settlement that provides shelter for families of the indigenous Tsou tribe displaced by Typhoon Morakot, which wreaked havoc in central and southern Taiwan in early August.

“All of the 76 documented tribal people have turned up for vaccination and more than 90 percent of them were given shots,” Wen said.

A few seniors and children who either had flu-like symptoms or high blood pressure were not vaccinated but will be given the H1N1 flu shot at a later date, Wen said.

Wen reminded those who received the shots to contact his office if they develop fevers, allergies, shortness of breath or other symptoms, or faint in the coming days.

Chiayi County's health office also sent personnel to other provisional settlements for Morakot-affected people in Meishan and Sinmei townships to administer swine flu shots, a county official said.

Meanwhile, Premier Wu Den-yih visited the Jenmei settlement center in Kaohsiung County's Dashu Township Sunday to check on how the H1N1 immunization program was going on its first day.

Except for the 120 residents who traveled to Taipei Saturday to attend an activity, most other residents at the center received swine flu shots Sunday.

Wu said government preparations for the H1N1 immunization program have proceeded smoothly and he reiterated recent government assurances that Taiwan has procured a sufficient number of doses of the vaccine to protect local residents from falling victim to the swine flu strain.

Taiwan has ordered 10 million doses of the vaccine from Taiwan's Adimmune Corp. and another 5 million doses from the multinational pharmaceutical company Novartis to cover an anticipated nationwide demand of 12 million doses.

Noting that the locally produced vaccine has passed human clinical trials, Wu said he appreciates the hard work of public health officials in preparing for the mass immunization program.

But he said the country cannot afford to relax its guard against the disease as more than 1,100 classes around Taiwan have been suspended due to reports of some students coming down with flu-like symptoms.

“Amid signs of a new wave of swine flu infections and the weather getting cooler, local people should step up health management and cooperate with the government in helping ward off the spread of the virus,” Wu said.

In related reports, typhoon survivors staying at settlement centers in central Taiwan's Nantou County and southern Taiwan's Pingtung and Kaohsiung counties were also keen to receive H1N1 vaccines.

Lin Chi-yu, a specialist at Nantou County's health office, said 76 percent of documented Morakot-affected people in the county had been vaccinated as of noon Sunday.

“There have been no reports of uncomfortable reactions from vaccination recipients so far,” Lin said.

A total of 445 residents at settlement centers in Pingtung County's mountainous Wutai, Mudan and Sandimen townships have been documented for swine flu immunization and most of them showed up Sunday morning to get their shots, local officials said.

Lu Meng-lun, a section chief at Pingtung County's Bureau of Health, said some residents at a Wutai settlement center were quarantined for a couple of days in October after they were infected with seasonal flu.

“The quarantine was necessary to prevent cluster infections,” Lu said, adding that except for a few people who are out of town to attend a national sports meet, other Wutai residents at the settlement center had received H1N1 shots as of Sunday afternoon.

“Vaccination for residents at the Mudan and Sandimen settlement centers is also expected to be completed later in the day,” Lu added.