Amanda O'Jaick is expecting twins and held off getting vaccinated until Thursday, when the non-adjuvanted H1N1 vaccine became available in Ottawa. (Steve Fischer/CBC)

Pregnant women will have the option of getting vaccinated at one of three pregnant-women-only clinics this weekend, Ottawa Public Health announced Friday.

The clinics will operate on Saturday between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. at the Montfort Hospital, the Queensway Carleton Hospital and the Riverside Campus of the Ottawa Hospital. On Thursday, Ottawa Public Health announced just one clinic — at the Riverside — but then added the Queensway Carleton and Montfort clinics on Friday.

The Montfort and Queensway Carleton clinics are only for women who already receive care at those hospitals, while the Riverside campus is open to all pregnant women.

Ottawa Public Health said will continue to offer both non-adjuvanted and adjuvanted vaccine to pregnant women at all of its clinics.

At a briefing Wednesday afternoon, the public health department confirmed it had received 5,500 doses of non-adjuvant H1N1 vaccine. That is the form of the vaccine recommended for pregnant women. It does not contain an adjuvant — a substance added to stimulate a stronger immune response to the vaccine.

The non-adjuvanted vaccine was available at the city's five permanent vaccination sites on Thursday.

National guidelines recommend that pregnant women get the adjuvant-free version of the H1N1 vaccine because there has been little research done on the use of adjuvants in vaccines during pregnancy.

The H1N1 vaccine targets the strain of H1N1 influenza A virus responsible for the current swine flu pandemic.

Fewer new swine flu cases

Ottawa health authorities said Friday that the number of new cases of H1N1 flu reported this week is lower than last week.

Nadine Sicard, Ottawa's associate medical officer of health, said it's too early to predict the future of the pandemic in Ottawa, but signs are positive.

Since Sept. 1, there have been 275 confirmed cases of H1N1 in the city; 81 people have been hospitalized, and 40 of those remain in hospital.

Sicard also reported one more death from H1N1— bringing the total to three deaths in the city since Sept. 1. The person was only identified as a middle-aged individual with underlying health problems.

High-priority vaccinations

Ottawa Public Health will continue to vaccinate people in high-priority groups over the weekend. Officials said 110,000 people have now been immunized in the city and the health department expects to vaccinate another 30,000 by Monday.

Those priority groups include:

• Children between the ages of six months and five years.
• People up to age 65 with chronic, underlying health issues.
• People who live with infants under the age of six months.
• Health-care workers.

Five permanent clinics will be up and running over the weekend, with staff handing out wristband-passes for vaccinations later in the day. There will be clinics at the Tom Brown Arena, the Orléans Client Service Centre, the Kanata Recreation Complex , the Vanier-Richelieu Community Centre and 100 Constellation Cres.

There will also be a temporary clinic at the Fred Barrett Arena on Saturday and Sunday.