The H1N1 vaccine continues to come in more slowly than health authorities expected, and yet the new strain of flu has thus far caused limited harm in Napa County and around the United States.

It remains our hope that circumstances both within our control — such as our own conduct, safety and patience — as well as circumstances outside of it — the quick delivery of the tens of millions of doses of vaccine to the United States and the continuing benign weather here — will keep a potential crisis at bay.

Last week, Napa County public health authorities announced that they had received modest shipments of about 2,000 doses of vaccine.

Some were set aside for first responders and hospital workers. But the county wisely turned most over to private physicians to deliver to pregnant women and children in their care.

When the larger shipments arrive, the private practitioners will repay the county health department.

Private physicians have become increasingly frustrated in the middle of the H1N1 pandemic. It is their patients who are requesting advice and treatment, and the physicians themselves who requested the vaccine in a timely way.

Yet government health officials seek to ensure that the most vulnerable get the vaccine first, and so the supply that has trickled in to date has been routed by government officials to pregnant women, young children, and families and caregivers of young children through public health clinics.

For the rest of us, the best defenses remain in the realm of common sense.

Wash hands frequently.

Look out for signs of illness — coughing, fever, nausea, dizziness — in family members and coworkers, and encourage them to stay home from school or work rather than risking spreading an infection or exposure to elements that will worsen their health.

Wash hands frequently.

As for the overall supply, officials for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday that 38 million doses are available in the U.S., twice as many as were available in late October. Eight million more doses are expected to reach the public next week.

It appears that the wait for vaccine is almost over, and we will be able to put the greatest fears about H1N1 to rest.