P.E.I. H1N1 clinics open for children, caregivers
Last Updated: Monday, November 2, 2009 | 4:27 PM AT
CBC News
Four public H1N1 vaccination clinics opened Monday in P.E.I., exclusively for children aged six months to five years and caregivers of infants under six months old.
Health officials said the people in those high-risk groups were unable to get the vaccine last week when several clinics were cancelled due to a shortage of doses.
The clinics Monday were in:
- Former Bloomfield Call Centre, West Prince.
- Public Health Nursing office, Summerside.
- Montague Wellness Centre, Montague.
- Rollo Bay Consolidated School, Souris.
Dr. Heather Morrison, chief public health officer for P.E.I., said vaccinations for people in the other high-risk groups, such as those with underlying health conditions and health-care workers, will continue later this week.
"We still know that the rate of hospitalizations when we made the decision is greatest in those under one and then under five," she said.
Morrison said elementary school students in Grades 1 through 3 will be immunized on Thursday and Friday after the province receives approximately 2,500 additional doses of the vaccine.
She said the hospitalization rate for children under age 10 has also been high.
About 25,000 Islanders have been vaccinated against the swine flu.
5 hospitalizations
Five people in P.E.I. have been hospitalized in the past week with H1N1, Morrison said Monday.
One of the patients was 22, while the others ranged in age from 21 months old to 12. They have all been discharged.
The Department of Health is asking people with egg allergies who have underlying health conditions to call the flu hotline to sign up for a special clinic.
There are trace residual amounts of egg proteins in both the adjuvanted and adjuvant-less vaccines.
The number to call to add a person's name to the list is 1-888-748-5454.
