Health officials believe they're better prepared as mass immunization clinics reopened across Newfoundland and Labrador Monday, making the H1N1 vaccine available to the general public.

However, just hours after opening the doors to anyone who wanted the H1N1 shot, clinics in central Newfoundland were shut down again because nurses ran out of the vaccine.

Officials from Central Health said clinics in the region, which saw hundreds of people show up Monday morning to get the shot, will reopen as soon as another batch of the vaccine becomes available.

The province's largest health authority, Eastern Health, had about 70,000 doses of the swine flu vaccine available when its clinics opened Monday.

David Allison, the medical officer of health for the St. John's region, said that should be enough to start making it available to anyone who wants it.

Only one clinic is set up in St. John's, but Allison said health officials believe that won't be a problem.

"I think we're now well organized," he told CBC News Monday morning. "We have a way of numbering people. We'll know how many people can be processed in an hour. We can tell you now, approximately, when you can come back and walk straight through.

"So our processes have improved significantly since the first day."

There were complaints about long lineups and confusion over who was eligible to get the vaccine in the early days of the mass vaccination program.

In addition to the public clinics, nurses are also working their way through the school population. Junior and senior high school students are getting their shots this week.

Children who have received the first half-dose of the vaccine must wait a minimum of 21 days for their second shot, health officials said.