Nova Scotia expects nearly 52,000 more doses of H1N1 vaccine next week. (CBC)

Nova Scotia added three new groups to its H1N1 vaccine eligibility list Tuesday, including those under 65 with chronic medical conditions.

Dr. Robert Strang, the province's chief public health officer, gave the details at a news conference Tuesday afternoon.

People living with those who have compromised immune systems and people living with and caring for infants less than six months of age may also be inoculated. The last addition includes people who work in residential-care facilities and group homes.

Strang said the changes are effective immediately.

Pregnant women, children between the ages of five months and 59 months, people under the age of 19 with chronic health conditions, people in First Nations communities and front-line health workers continue to be eligible for the vaccine.

With the inclusion of the three new high-risk groups, there are now more than 470,000 Nova Scotians who can be inoculated.

Strang said there are about 66,500 doses of the vaccine currently available and the province may run out before the week is done.

"It's entirely possible we may run out of vaccine before we run out of eligible people who want to get it this week," he said. "But I would rather see us run out of vaccine than have it sit in fridges where it won't protect anyone."

The province narrowed the list to only priority groups because of a Canada-wide vaccine shortfall. As of Tuesday, Nova Scotia has received 207,400 doses of H1N1 vaccine and about 15 per cent of the population has been inoculated.

Strang said officials were originally expecting to receive between 350,000 and 450,000 doses by this time.

Immunizing in new year

Maureen MacDonald, the province's health minister, said it could be well after the flu season has passed before everyone in Nova Scotia will be able to receive a vaccination against swine flu.

"We still have a ways to go," she said. "This program will continue all of this month and well into December and possibly beyond."

MacDonald refused to be critical of the federal government's handling of the H1N1 immunization program or of GlaxoSmithKline, the company hired to supply vaccine to the country.

"We didn't plan for the flu to hit us this time. We don't have any control," she said. "We have no control over when the flu actually emerges in the population."

She said the vaccine was only ready in the last week of October when evidence of the second wave of the flu was already seen in Nova Scotia.

Immunization clinics will be closed Wednesday for Remembrance Day, but H1N1 assessment centres will be open.

Strang's latest update comes as Nova Scotia records its second H1N1-related death — the firstto occur during the second wave of the pandemic this fall.

The patient who died was a woman in her 50s who lived in the Guysborough Antigonish Strait Health district. She died last Friday after spending several days in the intensive-care unit of an Antigonish hospital.

She had underlying health conditions, Strang said Monday.

Annette Sampson, who died in July, was the province's first recorded death linked to H1N1. She was also in her 50s and had underlying medical conditions.