DENVER -- If you still haven't gotten a flu shot, you may want to act fast.

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Many providers are running out of vaccines. State health department officials said they called around and found 4,000 more doses that should arrive Wednesday. The priority for shots will go first to children between 6 months and 23 months, the elderly and those with chronic health conditions.

Even though the flu shots are in short supply there is plenty of the nasal spray vaccine -- known by the brand name FluMist -- available. Only 400,000 doses out of the roughly 4 million doses made by Gaithersburg, Md.-based MedImmune and its partner, Wyeth, have been distributed to pharmacies and flu vaccine sites. State health agencies recommend healthy people between the ages of 5 and 49 use FluMist and save what remains of the traditional vaccine for others.

But FluMist is selling for $60 -- three times what the flu shot costs. The companies who make FluMist are offering a $25 mail-in rebate.

However, the drug hasn't been approved for use by toddlers and seniors. FluMist, which contains a live but weakened flu virus, is meant to be a painless alternative to the traditional flu injection, which is made from a dead flu virus.

Even with the rebate, the high price of FluMist will remain a stumbling block beyond this flu season, said analyst Dennis Harp of Deutsche Bank-North America.

Chiron and Aventis Pasteur, the two producers of vaccine shots, will likely produce more doses next year to avoid shortages, he said, threatening to leave MedImmune with an overpriced product and not much of a market.

"It remains a very expensive product," Harp said. "They will have to reintroduce the product at a lower price, which means they might not make any money off it in 2004."

If you have questions about the flu or need help finding a vaccine, call the state health department hot line at (877) 462-2911. The hot line is open from 7 a.m. until 11 p.m.