Some students in three York region private schools have received the H1N1 shot, even though the region's top medical official says they are not considered members of priority groups.

St. Andrew's College in Aurora, Pickering College in Newmarket and the Hill Academy in Concord have all confirmed some of their students received shots.

A spokeswoman for St. Andrew's College said the school applied to York Region public health officials in September for the vaccine.

"St. Andrew's College followed due process. As a boarding school with students from 25 different countries, we applied for and received the vaccine from York Region public health," Kim Sillcox told CBC News.

However, York Region's medical officer of health, Dr. Karim Kurji, said those students are not members of priority groups.

"We do not give any preferential vaccines to any private school per se; we provide it to community physicians," he said.

Doctor's discretion

Kurji said York Region sent the shots to some doctors in the region once they were made available last week.

It was then up to the doctors to administer it to patients, he said, with the understanding they must adhere to Ministry of Health guidelines that stipulate the vaccine must be given to those in the high-priority groups.

In this instance, the doctor for St. Andrew's College also practised in the community, and therefore received doses from York Region, Kurji said.

"At no time would we have endorsed the delivery of that vaccine into the arms of the non-priority populations," Kurji said. It is possible that some students at the private schools were members of these priority groups.

The CEO of Hill Academy, meanwhile, said only a handful of students were vaccinated.

Peter Merrill said he took between 15 to 20 members of the hockey team to a York Region public health clinic on Oct. 28.

Merrill said the death of their teammate Evan Frustaglio two days earlier weighed heavily on the students.

Frustaglio, 13, died of the H1N1 virus 48 hours after developing mild cold symptoms.

"The hockey group was told that if they were to come to our clinic, they wouldn't necessarily be turned away," said Kurji. "And so they did come, and so they were immunized, and I think this was an instance where we had balanced compassion with process."

At the time, Kurji said, most public health units weren't turning away people who weren't in priority groups. Ontario started enforcing its immunization rules on Oct. 31, when it became apparent there was a shortage of the vaccine.