The long-awaited H1N1 flu vaccines arrived in Costa Rica on Thursday, two months behind schedule.

According to the Health Ministry, the shipment of 200,000 vaccines was delayed by a strike that began on Dec. 15 at the production factory in France.

Health officials say they hope to begin distributing the vaccines as of Monday to patients that have been identified by the Social Security System (the Caja) as “at-risk.”

Those people include pregnant women in the third trimester and persons with hypertension, congenital heart disease, diabetes, serious and chronic asthma, weakened immune systems, persons dependent on oxygen for breathing and persons who are morbidly obese.

Foreigners who do not subscribe to the public health system but who exhibit signs of risk can present a doctor's note to a local EBAIS center to request a vaccine. Health Minister María Luisa Avila warned that any so-called vaccine that has been sold in Costa Rica to date does not specifically target the H1N1 flu virus, as does the medicine that entered Costa Rica on Thursday.

The Health Ministry has requested an additional 1.6 million doses from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), but it's unclear whether their request will be fulfilled in time for the anticipated second wave of the flu pandemic. Originally, medical experts predicted the H1N1 flu virus to resurface in January or February and warned it could be worse than the one experienced in July-August, in which 21 died.

In total, Costa Rica has confirmed 1,847 cases of flu and 50 deaths since the first case surfaced in May of last year.