County officials have begun airing public service announcements urging at-risk Latinos, including people who are in the country illegally, to get vaccinated against the swine flu, also known as H1N1.

Local health officials said their priority is public safety, not politics.

"When it comes to public health, it doesn't matter who you are," said Dr. Dean Sidelinger, San Diego County's deputy public health officer. "We are going to take the same necessary precautions to protect the public's health."

Giving illegal immigrants swine flu vaccines has drawn relatively little controversy. Officials from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to the county's Health and Human Services Agency say it's best to vaccinate everyone when dealing with a contagious disease.

Thus far, the county has inoculated 55,844 people at its clinics since it received its first shipment of swine flu vaccines last month, Sidelinger said.

Following federal health guidelines, the county issues the vaccine primarily to people who are most at risk, such as pregnant women, children 2 to 18 years old, anyone with underlying medical conditions, and anyone 19 to 49 years old who cares for an infant less than 6 months old.

The county uses a set of questions to determine who should get the vaccine. It does not ask people whether they are in the country legally or to provide an ID, Sidelinger said.

Sidelinger said the county's screening questionnaire asks people about health problems, such as respiratory diseases, allergies and other information. The screening tool is meant to determine whether people should receive the vaccine, not their legal status.

The questions include a person's age, whether they have respiratory illnesses, or whether they are allergic to eggs, which are used in the production of the vaccine. Those questions help doctors determine whether a person is at risk for the disease or whether the vaccine could be harmful to their health.

Jeff Schwilk, who heads the anti-illegal immigration group San Diego Minutemen, said he believes illegal immigrants should have access to the vaccine along with everyone else.

"I don't have a problem with it," Schwilk said Friday. "I would expect everyone to have access to this vaccine if they want it. Hopefully, there is enough vaccine for everyone."

San Diego County has received $6.5 million from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to distribute the vaccine and respond to the pandemic, health officials said.

Part of the money was used to produce the public service announcements, which have aired on local radio and television stations in English and Spanish.

Jose Alvarez, a spokesman for the county's Health and Human Services Agency, said the agency is not just targeting the Latino community.

"We are just trying to reach as many sectors of the community as possible," Alvarez said.

The county also has placed ads in other ethnic media outlets, including newspapers aimed at the Filipino and black communities, Alvarez said. The ads tell people to how prevent getting the H1N1 virus, what to do if they get it and how to get vaccinated.

The ads were translated into Spanish because Spanish-speaking Latinos make up such a large segment of the region's population, Alvarez said.

In San Diego County, Latinos make up about 30 percent of the region's 3 million residents. It is unclear how many illegal immigrants live in the county.

A 2006 study reported that there were about 272,000 illegal immigrants living in San Diego, Imperial and Riverside counties, or about 7 percent of the combined population of 4 million people.

Nationwide, there are about 12 million illegal immigrants, according to the Pew Hispanic Center, an organization that studies the Latino population.

When the H1N1 virus first surfaced in Mexico earlier this year, Latino rights organizations said they were concerned that some groups were trying to exploit the virus "as a mechanism to stir fear."

They said the Latino community would feel threatened by the heated rhetoric and avoid seeking medical help against the virus.

Alvarez said the county has not seen any evidence that Latinos are avoiding getting the vaccine. In fact, Latinos have the highest vaccination rate of any ethnic group, he said.

Call staff writer Edward Sifuentes at 760-740-3511.