Doctors and support staff at Montreal’s Sainte-Justine children’s hospital say their families should be vaccinated against the H1N1 flu right away — or staff may not be available for work when they are needed most.

The request comes as health-care officials in Montreal opened the city’s first vaccination centres for priority groups, including children between the ages of six months and five years and some pregnant women.

Dr. Diane Francoeur says staff at Sainte-Justine's hospital worry they could be forced to take time off to care for sick family members. (CBC)While health-care workers have already been vaccinated. most members of their families have not.

At Sainte-Justine, workers fear that if their children get sick they will have to stay home to care for them — at a time when hospital resources are stretched to the limit.

"You stay at home, you miss a day at work and it means cancelling clinics and operating rooms and stuff like that," said Dr. Diane Francoeur, director of the hospital’s prenatal centre.

Francoeur estimated 1,000 family members would need to be vaccinated to keep all personnel at the hospital at work.

"The number of cases [of the flu] are increasing all the time," Francoeur said. "It is not any worse than last week. It is just that there are more and more — so we need more personnel."

But Quebec Health Minister Yves Bolduc said the government’s supply of the vaccine simply isn’t large enough to start vaccinating health-care workers' families, although some had access to the vaccine early on.

"At that point the rules were more flexible," Bolduc said. That approach is no longer possible with the higher-than-expected turnout at vaccination clinics this fall, the minister said.

Health-care workers are not the only group asking for changes in vaccination priorities.

An association representing funeral home staff issued a statement Thursday saying its members should be vaccinated because they spend time in hospitals around very sick people and are, therefore, at high risk.

Minister pleased with progress

Bolduc said he is pleased with the pace at which the province’s vaccination campaign is moving ahead.Health Minister Yves Bolduc, left, and Dr. Alain Poirier, Quebec's chief public health officer, say they are pleased with the progess of the province's vaccination campaign. (CBC)

Bolduc said a total of 700,000 Quebecers were expected to have received the flu vaccine by the end of Thursday. The minister said he is confident anyone who wants the vaccine will be able to get it by Christmas.

Dr. Alain Poirier, Quebec’s chief public health officer, said the number of cases requiring hospitalization grew by 55 in the previous 24 hours.

Poirier also confirmed the province’s fourth death related to the flu since the start of the second wave Aug. 30. The 67-year old man from the Outaouais area had underlying health conditions and died Tuesday, Poirier said.

In Montreal, there was still some confusion about who was eligible for a H1N1 shot as public health officials opened the region's first vaccination centres.

Ruth Breslin, director of the vaccination clinic set up at Allancroft Elementary School in Beaconsfield, said some people are showing up at clinics with conditions that don't qualify.

Only people on certain types of medication qualify to get their shot this week, Breslin said.

People started gathering outside the Allancroft clinic at 6 a.m. Thursday. But once the clinic opened two hours later, most waited no more than 15 minutes for the coupons that would guarantee them an appointment later in the day.

Before going to a vaccination clinic, officials are asking people to check the Montreal Health Agency’s website or call (514) 644-4545.