Health officials are concerned that Albertans are getting complacent about the H1N1 virus as only about a quarter of the province's residents have rolled up their sleeves for the flu shot.

Despite the reopening of mass vaccination clinics to the public on Monday, lineups have subsided, compared with the overwhelming demand when the program began in late October.

Health officials want to vaccinate 70 per cent of the population against the swine flu, but only 850,000 Albertans — or about 23 per cent — have been inoculated.

"People may be getting lulled into a false sense of complacency and the thinking out there may be that the flu season's over and that this has all passed us by and everything is safe now and they don't need to get vaccinated," said Dr. Glen Armstrong, head of the microbiology and infectious diseases department at the University of Calgary.

Calgary clinic closed for Grey Cup

The H1N1 clinic on the fourth floor of MacEwan Hall at the University of Calgary will be closed this Saturday and Sunday, due to Grey Cup festivities. It will reopen Monday at 8:30 a.m.

Check Alberta Health Services' website for the most updated information.

At Calgary's Market Mall, people were more inclined to get a headstart on their Christmas shopping rather than wait in line for the H1N1 shot.

"I personally think that it's kind of been blown out of proportion," said Chris Tong. "I understand that people are worried about it and they should take steps to protect themselves but, personally, I don't think it's a huge deal."

Aileen Colobong, who has a nine-month-old baby girl, said no one in her family has been vaccinated.

"I'm basically healthy. I think my immune system is OK," she explained.

3rd wave of swine flu expected

With a third wave of H1N1 expected to hit in February or March, Armstrong said there aren't enough vaccinated people to prevent the spread of the flu.

"So if you have a lot of people that are still susceptible to this flu, you can expect that you're going to see a lot of people ending up in hospital or in the intensive-care unit," he said.

Armstrong urged Albertans to get their H1N1 shots now, while lines are still manageable, rather than waiting until the third wave hits and clinics are overwhelmed again.

Starting Monday, the clinics will offer the seasonal flu vaccine in addition to the H1N1 vaccine to all Albertans over six months old.

The province will also start distributing vaccine to physicians who asked for it, starting next week. The mass clinics are expected to stay open until the end of December.