A health-care worker fills a syringe with H1N1 flu vaccine. (John Woods/Canadian Press)

Hundreds of people stood in line for a swine flu vaccination shot at clinics in Winnipeg and Brandon on Saturday as strong demand continued for the preventive measure.

In Brandon, the regional health authority ran a clinic at the Town Centre shopping mall. The lineup was so long at one point Saturday morning that it stretched all the way through the shopping centre and out the door.

Officials said the line eased by early afternoon and they expected to give everyone a shot.

Winnipeg, with a population of 700,000, offered only two clinics on Saturday and in both locations, vaccine supplies were exhausted well before the scheduled closing time.

'I think it's been poorly run to this point in time.'—Laura Bishop, waiting in line

While many people coped in the lineups, some with reading material to pass the time, others expressed frustration.

"I do work," Joy Mendoza told CBC News as she waited with her youngster. "So it would have been better if they had it in school, too. Send a nurse there and … they could get a third of the population just going in schools."

Mendoza was in line at a clinic at the Philippine Canadian Centre, which shut it doors at 3 p.m., an hour before it was scheduled to end. Health officials said then that they had only enough supplies to provide a shot to people who were already in line.

The same thing happened at the second clinic, on the University of Manitoba campus.

"I think it's been poorly run to this point in time," Laura Bishop told CBC News, as she stood in line waiting to get a shot for her two children. Bishop said there should have been more weekend clinics, and opened sooner.

She also questioned the continued use of a priority list.

"I think that everyone should have access to the shot at this point," Bishop suggested. "They've expanded the priority list, so why can't they expand it to everybody?"

Children aged six to 18 were recently added as a category to the Winnipeg Health Region's priority list.

The two Saturday clinics marked the first time a swine flu shot was being made available in Winnipeg on a weekend day.

Officials said 12 sites that have been offering vaccinations on weekdays will resume on Monday, using the region's updated priority list.

The Winnipeg Health Region reported that, as of 1 p.m. Saturday, 123,592 vaccinations had been delivered.

The region is also now using both of the vaccines approved by Health Canada, a regular one that everyone can take and a vaccine approved for pregnant women. The regular Winnipeg clinics will be open Monday to Thursday from 9:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.