A handful of University of Hawai'i student-athletes turned out at the Stan Sherriff Center yesterday to help with the state Department of Health's campaign to inoculate as many Hawai'i residents as possible against the H1N1 influenza, or swine flu.

Junior defensive end Aaron Rink sat patiently at a table while Dr. Sarah Park, state epidemiologist, sprayed a syringe filled with nasal spray vaccine into his right nostril, then a second syringe into the other.

"Quick and easy," Rink proclaimed as he sniffed back the remaining spray trying to escape from his nose. "You can't smell it, can't taste it."

Originally from Arizona, Rink said he's only had seasonal flu "once, or twice maybe" and doesn't know anyone who has come down with H1N1.

Park, who is also the state Department of Health Disease Outbreak Control Division chief, said the supply of H1N1 vaccine in Hawai'i is gradually catching up with demand.

In addition, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has decided the nasal spray vaccine can be used on any healthy, non-pregnant person between 2 and 49 years old.

According to the Department of Health, shots are still recommended for pregnant women, people who live with or care for infants less than 6 months old, health care and emergency medical services personnel, and anyone between the ages of 25 though 64 who has an underlying medical condition that puts them at a higher risk for influenza-related complications.

The UH student-athletes are in a priority group identified by the CDC as needing H1N1 vaccinations, Park said.

"There are lots of 19- to 24-year-olds out there who haven't been vaccinated yet," Park said.

Park recommended that the parents of students from Hawai'i who attend college on the Mainland try to schedule a swine flu vaccination while the students are in Hawai'i during Christmas vacation.

Dr. Andy Nichols, interim director of health services on UH-Mänoa's 20,000-student campus, said the student health center currently sees five to 15 students per week complaining of "influenza-like illness."

"The overwhelming majority of those cases — over 95 percent, and as high as 99 percent of them — turn out to be H1N1," Nichols said.

That's down from the spring semester, when the Mänoa health center saw about 25 to 30 students per week with flu symptoms.

None of the UH students had to be hospitalized, Nichols said. Those flu cases typically ran between three to five days, he said.

As of yesterday, 471,400 H1N1 vaccine does had been allocated to Hawai'i.

Also as of yesterday, 42,547 Hawai'i school students had been vaccinated through school clinics.