Alberta will be offering swine flu vaccine to seniors 75 and older on Tuesday.

The expansion of the province's mass immunization campaign is part of what the health minister characterized as a phased reintroduction for the general public.

"We want to start with seniors first, but we now are at the point where we believe supplies are no longer an issue," Health Minister Ron Liepert said Monday. "But we want to roll it out in a staged way."

Starting on Tuesday, all seniors 75 and older by Nov. 1, as well as their spouses or partners of any age, will be eligible for the shot.

Then on Thursday, the program will expand to people 65 and over, along with their partners. Proof of age must be shown.

Seniors are the next in line for the vaccine because of their vulnerability if they contract H1N1, said Dr. Gerry Predy, the senior medical officer of health for Alberta.

"If they do get it, they're at risk of severe illness," he said.

The vaccine had been in short supply but the manufacturer has caught up with some of the demand, allowing vaccinations to be opened up to seniors, said Liepert. Other members of the general public will still be added as supplies allow, in an continued effort to avoid the hours-long lineups that plagued the early days of the program.

"It has been a careful calculation of ensuring that we have the right appropriate amount of vaccine. And so as we move through the next four or five days and we see the take-up with the general population will give us a better sense of whether we'll be able to, the following week, distribute on a broader basis," explained Liepert.

Emergency responders, including police and firefighters, can go to any public clinic in the province starting Monday for their H1N1 shot, as long as they show ID or are in uniform, health officials said.

Alberta Health Services is negotiating with emergency departments in larger municipalities for them to administer the shots in special clinics, said Predy.

Over the past few weeks, the H1N1 flu shot has been limited to higher-risk groups including children between six months and five years old, pregnant women and people with chronic health conditions.

The province was forced to abruptly shut down general vaccination clinics after the first week of offering the vaccine to the general public, mainly because of a vaccine shortage.

Not too late to get vaccinated

About one-third of patients currently in intensive care units in Alberta hospitals have influenza, which is a "little higher" than in a normal flu season, said Predy.

'You have to remember the snow hasn't even fallen yet so our flu season here is a long one.'—Dr. Gerry Predy

"The patients who are severely ill and requiring intensive care are younger than what we'd see with seasonal influenza," he said.

Despite beliefs that it's too late to get vaccinated, Predy said people should still get the H1N1 vaccine.

"You have to remember the snow hasn't even fallen yet so our flu season here is a long one," said Predy.

A middle-aged Calgary woman with underlying health problems died over the weekend, bringing Alberta's death toll from H1N1 to 39. The majority of those cases involved patients with chronic medical conditions or existing risk factors.

Predy said by the weekend, 575,000 Albertans have been inoculated against swine flu.