HOUSTON, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- Three local clinics in Dallas County, Texas, began to offer free doses of A/H1N1 flu vaccine on Monday to all residents.

    It is the first time that the county health department is distributing A/H1N1 flu vaccines to the general public since the outbreak struck the country last spring.

    However, not as many people as expected turned out on Monday for vaccination at the county's health department when it opened at 8 am.

    That's a far cry from the thousands of people who showed up in early November, when the county got its first 10,000 doses of A/H1N1 flu vaccine that were designated for high-risk groups.

    Until Monday, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended giving the vaccine only to people in high-risk groups, including pregnant women, people aged 6 months to 24 years as well as those aged 25 to 64 years who have underlying health problems such as diabetes.

    Dallas County Health Director Zachary Thompson, who expected a more leisurely attitude toward the vaccination, said he was not surprised by the light turnout.

    Other health officials expect to administer 200-500 vaccinations per day at each of the three clinics that are open to the general public in the county.

    With a population of 2.4 million, the county has so far received a total of 450,000 doses of the A/H1N1 vaccine for distribution to high-risk groups.

    Thompson said last week that he was concerned that the vaccine supply had not found enough takers among the targeted high-risk groups.

    "We could end up throwing away a lot of vaccine," he warned. "I think we have to open it up (to the general public), and we need to act on that quickly."

    With 73 million doses of the A/H1N1 flu vaccine available nationwide, Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, director of the CDC, said on Friday that some communities were beginning to offer it to people beyond the priority groups. "The number of communities that do that will increase in the coming weeks."

    Local reports showed that at least three other states -- Alaska, Arkansas and Oklahoma -- had begun offering A/H1N1 flu vaccine to all residents.

    "We're still in a period of changing gears, from a time of not having enough vaccine, to a time of having adequate supply for anyone to receive shots," Frieden explained.

Special Report:  World Tackles A/H1N1 Flu