More than 22,000 people in the Northwest Territories have received the H1N1 flu vaccine since a territory-wide immunization program began Oct. 26. (CBC)

Six more people in the Northwest Territories went to hospital with swine flu last week, bringing the total number of H1N1 virus-related hospitalizations there to 46.

The territorial Health Department's flu line got 205 calls last week, with most people reporting mild to moderate flu symptoms and recovering on their own, according to a flu bulletin sent Tuesday.

Schools across the N.W.T. are seeing higher rates of absenteeism but none have been closed to date.

Seasonal flu shots coming

Health officials say more than 22,000 N.W.T. residents have taken the H1N1 vaccine since a territory-wide immunization program began in late-October.

That program continues until the end of this week, and will be followed by a seasonal flu vaccination campaign later this month.

Teams of nurses have travelled to every community to help health-care staff administer the H1N1 shot.

The vaccination program has been well-received in areas such as the Dehcho region, where turnout for the flu shot has been between 75 and 90 per cent in most of those communities.

That turnout is higher than the number of Dehcho people who have come out for the seasonal flu shot, said Kathy Tsetso, chief executive officer of the Dehcho Health and Social Services Authority.

Elders credited with high turnout

Tsetso said community elders deserve some credit for the high turnout.

"A number of elders were encouraging people to get the shot," she told CBC News.

"I think they felt they'd been through this kind of thing before and that was helpful, and that they trusted the process."

Tsetso was referring to elders' experiences with the Spanish flu, which killed hundreds of northern aboriginal people in the 1920s and '30s.

Poor weather conditions have disrupted some flu vaccine clinics in the Dehcho region, but Tsetso said the clinics have otherwise been going without a hitch, and with no allergic reactions reported.

Meanwhile, an ongoing demand for the vaccine in Yellowknife, the N.W.T. capital city, has prompted the Health Department to open another flu vaccine clinic at Centre Square Mall daily between 10 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. this week except on Remembrance Day.

The H1N1 vaccine is available in both adjuvanted and adjuvant-free versions, with the latter recommended for women who are less than 20 weeks pregnant.