Now that Health Canada has given the Novartis influenza vaccine its seal of approval, Saskatchewan's flu clinics should be opening again soon.

The clinics were shut down last week when Health Canada announced it was reviewing the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine used in this province.

This morning, the federal department announced that despite earlier concerns about "clumping" of virus particles in a European batch of the vaccine, it had found no safety issues and lifted its precautionary hold.

The review was conducted using information from Europe as well as independent testing.

With the vaccine approved, health regions will be rescheduling flu vaccine clinics immediately, the provincial Health Ministry said.