A family fills out paperwork for an H1N1 shot at Calgary's Stampede Grandstand on Friday morning. A family fills out paperwork for an H1N1 shot at Calgary's Stampede Grandstand on Friday morning. (Zulekha Nathoo/CBC)Alberta is re-opening its swine flu vaccination clinics to the general public starting Monday.

Anyone over the age of six months will be eligible for the vaccine, which targets the H1N1 influenza A virus that causes swine flu.

Alberta abruptly closed the clinics on Nov. 1 because of massive lineups and a shortage of the vaccine. When the clinics reopened a few days later, only certain groups at high risk of complications from swine flu were eligible.

Health officials said Friday that people won't have to wake up in the early morning hours to ensure a shot.

"Lineups at immunization clinics have been short over the last couple of weeks," Alberta Health said in a press release.

Who is eligible on Friday, Saturday and Sunday:

  • All children over six months and under 18 as of Nov. 1, along with immediate family members and caregivers living with them.
  • Seniors 65 and older and their spouses or partners of any age.
  • Pregnant women.
  • People with chronic conditions aged five to 64 as of Nov. 1.
  • Household contacts and caregivers of people who cannot be immunized such as infants under six months and people with suppressed immune systems.
  • First responders, including firefighters, police and provincial peace officers.
  • Frontline health-care workers.

Proof of age and documented proof of eligibility, such as a prescription, are required.

"In anticipation of increased demand next week, Alberta Health Services has put strategies in place to manage lines if required, including wristbands handed to those in line indicating the time they can return for immediate service. There will be no need for people to lineup before clinics open in the morning."

As the second wave of the virus wanes, temporary flu assessment clinics set up in Calgary, Edmonton and Lethbridge will close on Monday. The clinics — plus one in Medicine Hat, which has already closed — treated more than 9,000 patients in less than a month.

Pressure on Alberta's emergency departments and intensive care units has eased and demand at the assessment clinics is down, said Dr. Gerry Predy, Alberta Health Services' senior medical officer of health. However, Predy expects a third wave of the virus in Alberta before the flu season ends in April.

Short lines in Calgary Friday

Alberta expanded its swine flu immunization program Friday to all children under 18, their immediate family members and caregivers living with them.

Lines were not long at Calgary's six clinics. At about 11 a.m. CBC News reporters found no wait at Brentwood Village Mall and the Stampede Grandstand, the clinic which has the most nurses. The wait at the Richmond Road Diagnostic and Treatment Centre was less than an hour.

Alberta Health says more than 1,000 people have been hospitalized due to H1N1 since April, and 45 have died, most of them with underlying ailments. Seasonal flu kills between 11 and 90 Albertans every year, according to health officials.

Arrangements are being made "over the coming weeks" to offer the vaccine through family doctors, pharmacies and large employers, officials say.

More than 650,000 Albertans, about one-sixth of the population, have been inoculated to date.