Some swine flu immunization clinics are open in New Brunswick this weekend, despite a shortage of the vaccine.
But health officials have announced changes to the priority groups and clinic locations.
On Sunday, a clinic will be held in Sackville at the public health office from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., but it will only be for children aged six months to less than five years, according to a news release by Regional Health Authority A.
And in Dalhousie, the clinic location has been changed to L'École aux Quatre Vents School. It will be held from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., and will only be for health care workers and priority groups.
Clinics scheduled for Monday at Moncton's Dr. Georges L. Dumont Regional Hospital and Veteran's Health Centre, as well as Riverview's West Riverview School, have all been cancelled, the release states.
Tuesday clinics at Dr. Georges L. Dumont hospital, Memramcook's Abbey Landry School and Shediac's Louis J. Robichaud School are also postponed.
Meanwhile, most of the clinics by Horizon Health Network, formerly known as Regional Health Authority B, are proceeding as scheduled on Sunday, except for two in Saint John at St. John the Baptist/King Edward School and Millidgeville North School, and one in Kingston at MacDonald Consolidated School.
But the regional health authority has changed its list of priority groups. Vaccination clinics are now restricted to:
- Children six months to five years.
- Schoolchildren 18 and under.
- Pregnant women over 20 weeks.
- Pregnant women under 20 weeks with underlying medical conditions.
- Household contacts for children under six months.
- First Nations people living on reservations.
"This restriction is in place to ensure that the highest-priority groups are vaccinated immediately until a new shipment of vaccine is received," spokeswoman Sonya Green-Haché stated in a news release.
"It is very important that we all work together to protect those most vulnerable."
The company that manufactures the vaccine, GlaxoSmithKline, hasn't been able to keep up with demand.
Health officials hope to have a full supply of the shot within a week to 10 days and to be able to proceed with mass immunizations at that time.
Regional Health Authority A covers Moncton, Edmundston, Campbellton and Bathurst.
Horizon Health Network covers southeast Moncton, Saint John, Fredericton and Miramichi.
For a complete list of clinics in the two health regions, visit http://www1.gnb.ca/cnb/h1n1event/index-e.asp.
