Nova Scotians who wanted to take advantage of the provincial Nov. 11 holiday to get an H1N1 shot were out of luck.
Public health officials decided not to hold vaccination clinics on Remembrance Day, despite urging those in high-risk groups to get inoculated against the virus as soon as possible.
The move was partly to give people staffing the clinics a break, said Health Minister Maureen MacDonald.
"It's a combination of the staff have been working very hard and out of respect as well for our veterans that we closed the clinics today," MacDonald told CBC News.
Vaccination clinics were open Wednesday in Quebec, Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia.
Though Nova Scotians couldn't be inoculated against H1N1 on Remembrance Day, they could still be assessed for the flu at some clinics.
Annapolis Valley Health is opening a second assessment centre on Thursday in Greenwood to try to divert people from hospitals in the area and prevent the spread of H1N1.
"We opened an assessment centre a few weeks ago in the Wolfville area and we're seeing on average about 80 to 90 people a day. We're expecting to see probably the same numbers," said Tamara Gilley, spokesperson for the Annapolis Valley District Health Authority.
Nova Scotia had received 207,400 doses of H1N1 vaccine as of Tuesday, and about 15 per cent of the population had been inoculated.
The expanded list of groups eligible for the vaccine now includes:
- People under 65 with chronic medical conditions.
- People living with/caring for infants under six months and those with compromised immune systems.
- Workers at residential-care facilities and group homes.
- Pregnant women.
- New mothers and new fathers.
- Children between the ages of five months and five years.
- People in First Nations communities.
- Health workers who provide direct care to patients.
MacDonald warned Tuesday that it could be well after the flu season has passed before everyone in Nova Scotia can receive the H1N1 vaccine.
