Officials in Montreal say they will start vaccinating children six months to five years old on Thursday. (CBC)Health officials in Montreal say they will speed up plans to vaccinate some at-risk members of the population against the H1N1 virus.

The move comes after Health Minister Yves Bolduc expressed frustration with delays in vaccinating some at-risk people in the region.

While some members of at-risk groups have been able to get the vaccine for nearly one week in other regions of the province, officials in Montreal had been focused on doling out the vaccine to health-care workers, first responders and seriously ill patients.

But starting Thursday, officials said they will begin vaccinating:

• Children between the ages of six months and five years old.
• The parents and siblings of babies under six months old.
• Pregnant women at least 20 weeks into their pregnancy (adjuvant vaccine only).
• Pregnant women with a chronic illness(adjuvant vaccine only).

Montreal’s director of public health, Dr. Richard Lessard, said the decision was made because children and pregnant women seem to be at higher risk for the flu.

Officials said the adjuvant-free vaccine is not yet available in the province.

An adjuvant is a substance added to a vaccine to stimulate a stronger immune response. National guidelines recommend that pregnant women get the adjuvant-free version of the H1N1 vaccine because there has not been extensive research done on the use of adjuvants during pregnancy.

But, Lessard said officials in Quebec feel the risks of the flu are greater to pregnant women than the risk posed by the adjuvanted vaccine.

One-third of flu cases requiring hospitalization have been children under the age of five, said Lessard.

According to a World Health Organization report, women in the third trimester of their pregnancy are at a 10 times higher risk of requiring hospitalization, Lessard said.

Officials had also hoped to start vaccinating the parents and siblings of preschoolers and of people with suppressed immune systems, but will have to hold off for now, said Montreal Health Agency president David Levine.

"The reason they will not be vaccinated in this first ... [group] is because of the limited number of vaccines. We want to ensure we cover this population at risk," Levine said.

Officials said 10 H1N1 vaccination centres will open Thursday morning. Another four will open later this week.

The vaccination centers will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week, officials said.

The centers will operate using the new system of coupons announced Tuesday in order to avoid long lines.

Patients arriving will be given a coupon indicating when they can return for their vaccination.

Coupon system in place

Some areas of Montreal’s south shore were using the new coupon system for the first time Wednesday morning.Montreal public health director Dr. Richard Lessard says one third of cases requiring hospitalization are children under five. (CBC)

People started queuing outside Samuel de Champlain School in Longueuil at 4:30 a.m. in order to get vaccinated.

Despite the early hour, France Richer welcomed the new plan.

"There’s nobody showing up here with kids. As an adult, you can wait but you don’t make kids wait in line," said Richer.

Meanwhile, Bolduc said the province is taking steps to correct an error he said resulted in some healthy prisoners receiving the H1N1 vaccine ahead of the general population.

The situation at the Salaberry-de-Valleyfield detention centre made headlines Wednesday.

Bolduc, who called the situation "unacceptable," said local health officials seem to have misinterpreted government directives.

He said prisoners in other detention centres would wait their turn.