A major dairy company serving Atlantic Canada did nothing wrong in immunizing employees against swine flu even though they weren't a priority group, Nova Scotia public health officials say.

About 100 Farmers Dairy employees in Hammonds Plains and Truro received the H1N1 shot on Monday, including those outside the announced high-risk categories.

'It's far better they just keep using it than just have it sit in the fridge unused'—Dr. Robert Strang, Nova Scotia chief public health officer

The company requested the doses weeks before the current restrictions were put in place, when the Department of Health allowed big employers to look after the vaccination of their own staff.

Once the vaccine was restricted to only priority high-risk groups, the company offered to give the vaccine back but was turned down, said Derek Estabrook, vice-president of marketing for Farmers Dairy.

Estabrook said the company was told there was no guarantee the doses had been kept at the proper temperature.

"Health said that they could not take it back and that we should use our best judgment and administer it from there," he said.

Dr. Robert Strang, the province's chief public health officer, said it's a matter of quality control, and the dairy company did the right thing by using the doses.

"It's far better they just keep using it than just have it sit in the fridge unused. Ultimately, all Nova Scotians are at some risk, so while it's not following our current rules, they were given the vaccine under a different set of rules and we just need to keep using it," Strang said.

Nova Scotia narrowed the list of people who can get the shot to only priority groups because of a Canada-wide vaccine shortfall. But as of Tuesday, three new groups were eligible for the H1N1 vaccine:

  • people under 65 with chronic medical conditions
  • people living with/caring for infants under six months and those with compromised immune systems
  • workers at residential-care facilities and group homes

The following groups continue to be eligible for the vaccine:

  • pregnant women
  • new mothers and new fathers
  • children between the ages of five months and five years
  • people in First Nations communities
  • health workers who provide direct care to patients

As of Tuesday, Nova Scotia had received 207,400 doses of H1N1 vaccine and about 15 per cent of the population has been inoculated.

Vaccination clinics in the province are closed for Remembrance Day, though flu assessment centres are still open.

Strang said it could take until February before all Nova Scotians have access to the vaccine.