H1N1 vaccine arrives in N.W.T., Yukon
Doses of the H1N1 influenza vaccine have been shipped to the Yukon and the Northwest Territories, but people planning to line up for the vaccine will have to wait for it to be approved.
Top health officials in both territories say they hope the vaccine will prevent and slow the spread of swine flu.
Yukon chief medical officer Dr. Brendan Hanley told CBC News all Yukoners who want to get the H1N1 vaccine can get it, free of charge, once federal government regulators approve the vaccine's use.
"We're really going to be opening it to all comers," Hanley said in an interview Tuesday.
"We have 50,000 doses. We've got more than enough for all Yukoners, so the doors will be open as soon as we get that nod in a few days to prepare."
All encouraged to get vaccinated
Hanley said the fact that there won't be a shortage of the vaccine will help health officials to encourage all people, aged six months and up, to get vaccinated.
Health officials in both territories say those who will benefit the most from the H1N1 vaccine include pregnant women, people under the age of 65 who have chronic health conditions, people living in isolated or remote settings, health-care workers and caregivers.
Once the federal government approves the vaccine for use, Hanley said the Yukon will roll out an aggressive publicity campaign to let the public know how and where to get the shot.
Hanley said there has been no outbreak of swine flu in the Yukon to date, but there have been consistent weekly increases in the number of people with the flu in the territory.
4 new hospitalizations in N.W.T.
The vaccine will also be available for anyone in the Northwest Territories, where the H1N1 virus has been the only flu strain circulating this fall. Cases have been found in 25 of the N.W.T.'s 33 communities.
Four new patients from the N.W.T. were hospitalized with swine flu last week, bringing the total number of hospitalizations to 22, according to a Health Department update issued Tuesday.
Health officials there say they hope the vaccine will slow down the spread of the H1N1 virus. "Action teams" are being assembled to deliver the vaccine in all communities.
"If everyone's going to rush to get the vaccine, if they all want it at once, we will make it available and we'll give it out as quickly as we can," Dr. Kami Kandola, the N.W.T.'s chief public health officer, said Monday.
"We'll be setting up mass immunization clinics. We'll he having the vaccine roll out in a several-week period. So we'll be ready and we're prepared to respond to a surge capacity."
Kandola said she will announce vaccine distribution plans once the vaccine is approved.