Flu shots for Wall Street stirs ire in New York

* Union says decision endangers health

* Banks pledge to vaccinate only high-risk employees

* Health officials say they distributing vaccine widely

By Bill Berkrot

NEW YORK, Nov 5 (Reuters) - New York City health officials scrambled to explain themselves on Thursday following outraged media reports about bankers who got scarce H1N1 flu vaccines through their employers.

Although there is a longstanding arrangement for employers to provide seasonal flu shots to workers, the city health department was bombarded with calls and television reports about Wall Street workers jumping the line ahead of pregnant women and children.

"It's bad enough that Wall Street crashed our economy and is back to paying out platinum bonuses after taking trillions in taxpayer-funded bailouts and backstops," Service Employees International Union Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger said in a statement.

"But purposely endangering the health of millions of Americans during a public health crisis crosses all lines of decency."

The shortage of H1N1 vaccines has frayed some nerves, and public health departments across the country say they will not be able to meet the bulk of the demand until December or January.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates swine flu has infected more than 5 million people and it is documented as having killed 1,000.

The federal government, which is buying the vaccines and distributing them for free to 62 state and city health departments, says 35.6 million doses have been made and packaged since production began.

Close to 160 million people are in the priority groups to get vaccine first -- healthcare workers, pregnant women, children and adults under 65 with medical conditions, caregivers for infants too young to be vaccinated and people 24 and younger.

New York City health department spokeswoman Jessica Scaperotti said the city is working to distribute the vaccine widely.

"When H1N1 vaccine first became available in the fall, we directed all available doses to pediatricians, OB-GYNs, community health centers, public and private hospitals," she said in a telephone interview.

EMPLOYEE HEALTH CENTERS

"As more vaccine became available we started to place small orders to providers that serve adults, including employee health centers."