By Michelle Costa, Local News 8 Reporter

BLACKFOOT - Just days ago, Bannock County was the first in the State to send Governor Otter a Declaration of Disaster for the swine flu.

More counties plan to follow suit.

On Monday, Power and Bingham County Commissioners expect to draft their own declaration.

"This is what we call a disaster," said Craig Rowland, Bingham County's Director of Emergency Management.

That disaster is swine flu. And it's why Bingham County's Director of Emergency Management is doing paperwork.

He explains the main reason for the declaration of disaster is money.

"Is the state going to give us any money? We don't know. We just want the governor to be aware that this is causing a hardship for our county, not only our county but our people that are getting sick, but our workers. It also tells the state that we're really overwhelmed with the flu. We have lots of people getting sick," said Rowland.

"It allows the jurisdiction, in this case the county to move some money within budgets to take extraordinary action outside of their normal method of operations," said Ken Fagnant, Bureau of Homeland Security.

With fewer shipments of vaccines than anticipated, Rowland is one of the many worried.

"We're short of vaccine. Everybody expected to have a lot more doses than they got and basically the shipments got cut in half," said Rowland.

The Commissioners are drafting a Declaration of Disaster for the swine flu on Monday and for most people that's a good thing.

"I think if we have the challenge of having the h1n1 flu virus in our area and we have had some deaths," said Claudon Lilya, Favors Declaration.

"We definitely need the money and maybe the federal government will give us more flu shots," said Ben Krause, Wants Funding.

"It's probably good for the county, but I don't know that it's a real necessity," said Jake Van Orden, Opposes Declaration.

"I think it's probably good because I have three kids that have been sick and it makes me nervous that they're in school," said Shelley Beck, Wants more flu shots.

While the counties aren't sure how much money or if they'll get any money from the government, more are expressing the need for it.

Governor Otter's Press Secretary said there's always a concern when counties draft a Declaration of Disaster.  

They understand it is time sensitive and plan to respond as quickly as possible.

The times for next week's clinics in Bingham County have been changed. They'll start at 4 pm instead of 1 pm.

The clinics are next Tuesday at Firth High School and the following Thursday at Shelley High School.