Adults under 65 with chronic illnesses can now line up to be vaccinated against the H1N1 flu virus in Montreal.

The city's public health department announced on the weekend that it was moving up vaccination schedules for people with chronic illnesses, who had previously been expecting to wait until mid-November.

Weekend vaccination clinics were less busy than expected, and this was a major factor in moving up the inoculation schedule to Monday, said Dr. Richard Lessard, Montreal's public health director.

"I would like to see the vaccination centres full all the time, but that's not what's happening, and that's why we are opening the clinic to people under 65, who have a chronic disease," he said on Sunday.

Montreal has 14 makeshift vaccination clinics doling out the H1N1 shot. The clinics can provide a total of 20,000 vaccinations per day.

The slack demand on the weekend could have been caused by unseasonably warm weather, Lessard speculated.

Seven deaths in Quebec have been attributed to H1N1 since the second wave of the flu hit the province, and 579 people have been hospitalized.

So far, over 800,000 Quebecers have received swine flu immunizations.

Confusion over priorities

Quebec's vaccination campaign has led to some mix-ups because priority lists are determined by regional health authorities, not by the province. This means the priority sequence in Quebec City differs from the lists in Sherbrooke, Montreal and Gatineau.

The H1N1 vaccination campaign in Quebec City got off to a confusing start for chronically ill people. Dozens were turned away from the city's four inoculation centres Monday morning because of misunderstanding about who is eligible for the shot.

The confusion stemmed from Quebec City's priority list, which allows only people under 25 with chronic illnesses to be vaccinated this week. The city's chronically ill between 25 and 65 will have to wait until next week, unlike the priority directive in Montreal.

H1N1 treatment clinics open

About a dozen clinics geared toward flu-infected patients are opening Monday. Public health officials say these clinics will alleviate pressure on hospital emergency rooms that have been overrun by people with flu symptoms.

Patients who show up at the flu clinics will be checked by a nurse or doctor, said Yolaine Galarneau, a physician who runs the Montreal public health department's front-line services.

"We have to decide if those persons should receive anti-viral medication, and if they have any complications or infections that will need antibiotics," she told CBC. "Those people are seen by a nurse, and if needed, are seen after by a doctor."

Quebec's flu pandemic website has a full list of the flu clinics.

Health minister rebukes hospitals

Quebec Health Minister Yves Bolduc said he disapproves of a Montreal hospital's decisions to vaccinate its top donors against the swine flu.

No special privileges should be given for vaccinations in Quebec, Bolduc told a news conference on Saturday.

Media reports said Montreal's Jewish General Hospital inoculated 200 donors who weren't on the province's priority list.

According to hospital officials, the donors spend a lot of time in the medical centre and come in contact with patients.

In Ontario, board members at Toronto's Mount Sinai Hospital got the H1N1 shot last week and the University Health Network is offering the vaccine to its board and executives, along with nurses, doctors, volunteers and other hospital workers.

With files from the Canadian Press