Quebec health officials say there will be enough of the H1N1 vaccine for everyone who wants to be inoculated, but people will have to be patient.

The demand for Arepranix H1N1 has skyrocketed across the province in recent days, according to Quebec's public health agency.

On Saturday, Health Minister Yves Bolduc asked Quebecers to remain calm as the province rolls out its vaccination campaign.

He said the number of Quebecers wanting the vaccine has doubled to 80 per cent of the population this past week.

The demand increase is good news, Bolduc said, and there is no reason to panic, because everyone who wants a shot will eventually get one, as long as they wait their turn.

Quebec is adamant about following its priority list for vaccination, starting with health professionals, chronically ill people, small children and pregnant women.

Since the second wave of the flu began in September, 167 people have been hospitalized across Quebec, with 125 being admitted in the last week, said Alain Poirier, director of Quebec's public health agency.

Children needed hospital care

The greatest proportion of people who have been hospitalized with the respiratory flu have been children under the age of five, he said.

The hardest-hit Quebec regions are the Montérégie, south of Montreal, and the Outaouais, in the greater Ottawa region.

Many Quebecers experienced long lineups and delays this week when they showed up at vaccination centres.

In some regions, health officials are requesting proof of address to prevent queue-jumpers from travelling outside their region to get the vaccine.

GlaxoSmithKline Inc., the pharmaceutical company producing the vaccine, has been concentrating on producing an adjuvant-free form of the shot for pregnant women, which has slowed down output. Adjuvants boost effectiveness but may have side-effects.

That may further delay the vaccine's rollout, said David Levine, head of the Montreal Regional Health Agency.

"We're dependent upon the availability of the vaccine," he said Friday. "The organization is there, all the health-care workers are available."

"The number of vaccinations are in relation to our reception of the number of doses, and they've been planned in relation to that," he continued. "If there's a change in the availability of the vaccine, that would certainly have an influence on the dates on which we would be starting each of the priority groups."

Production of the vaccine is expected to return to normal next week, Levine said.

Federal health officials continue to remind the public there are more doses available per capita in Canada than in any other country.