Be in touch with your doctor now, and follow local media reports for swine-flu vaccination announcements in your area.

A vaccine is the best way to prevent swine flu, but common-sense approaches like washing your hands helps, too.

RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—The first doses of swine-flu vaccine are arriving in states early this week, with healthcare workers among the first on the swine-flu vaccination list. States vary in how they will handle distributing the vaccines, which could lead to some confusion on the patient end, as well. "We have to cut the health department some slack," says William Schaffner, MD, chair of the department of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN. "There's no right way to do this, and there will be some bumps in the road. But pretty soon, everyone who wants to get it ought to be able to get it."

THE DETAILS: The first doses will be in the form of a nasal flu spray called FluMist, which involves a weakened live form of the virus, and is not recommended for pregnant women, people 50 and older, 2 or younger, or those with suppressed immune systems. As early as the tail end of next week, some swine-flu vaccines in shot form could start trickling in to some states, too. And while the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have laid out guidelines, state health departments will ultimately distribute the vaccine according to that particular state's plans. For instance, in Tennessee and Pennsylvania, and in many other states, doctors' offices and healthcare practices were required to apply for the vaccine with an estimate of how many doses they would need.

On Thursday, federal health officials also tapped the national stockpile of Tamiflu for children, releasing 300,000 doses of the antiviral medicine, because pediatric cases are on the rise. If given within the first 48 hours after symptoms set in, the drug can dampen the severity of the illness. Dr. Schaffner says so far the H1N1 (swine flu) virus has not mutated into a more virulent form, and there have been only a handful of isolated cases in which the virus was resistant to antiviral meds like Tamiflu.