SAUK COUNTY, Wis. -- Sauk County health officials are making the battle against the H1N1 flu a top priority.

On Tuesday, Sauk County Board of Supervisors declared a 60-day public health emergency to allow staff to shift their focus from regular public health efforts to curbing a pandemic.

"The decision was made that because we were shifting what we normally do to the mass clinic plan, we need to go through the formality of declaring a public health emergency," said Cynthia Bodendein, a Sauk County health officer.

Sauk County Public Health Department has received federal funding to provide vaccinations to approximately 60,000 residents. The declaration will help coordinate with other jurisdictions and community partners.

The Sauk County Public Health Department and emergency government officials are playing down the county's newly declared public health emergency, even as they are playing up the dangers of H1N1 flu and the need for mass voluntary vaccination clinics for the entire county, city by city, WISC-TV reported.

"The way we have the plan set out, if we get 50 percent of the community, Baraboo's population is about 10,000, so were looking at about 5,000 people," Bodendein said.

At the Sauk County Public Health Department, all-day services like pregnancy testing have been cut back to four hours a day so nurses can tackle scheduling and setting up the free mass vaccination clinics.

Using hired help, public health officials said they first want to target the schools, where absentee rate highs have been ranging between 20 and 40 percent.

Then, nurses will go into the communities, basing the free clinics in the county's five largest cities.

But the vaccination plans are dependent on the vaccine supply, and right now, health workers said they will need a lot more.

"We have received 500 doses to inject. We have not gotten a shipment this week," Bodendein said.

Sauk County's initial order was for 20,000 doses though it can change that order at any time.

If officials get what they need, clinics targeting 11,000 school children are set to start the first week of November.

The remainder of the population will be vaccinated in December following the Center for Disease Control's vaccination criteria.

Clinics are scheduled on the following dates and times and available to all Sauk County residents:

Lake Delton - December 7, 2:00-7:00 p.m. (Wilderness Resort & Convention Center)

Reedsburg - December 9, 2:00-7:00 p.m. (Reedsburg High School – Call Center)

Sauk Prairie - December 11, 2:00-7:00 p.m. (Prairie du Sac Fire Department)

Spring Green - December 14, 2:00-7:00 p.m. (Spring Green Fire Department)

Baraboo - December 16, 2:00-7:00 p.m. (U.W. Baraboo Sauk County Campus)

Residents who have questions related to H1N1 are asked to call the Sauk County H1N1 hotline at 608-355-4481, call United Way 211, or visit the Sauk County Web site.