Four-year-old Laura Collins cuddles into her father Stan’s arms as she gets the H1N1 vaccination from community health nurse Katie Harris at a public vaccination clinic at Hazelwood Elementary School in St. John’s Monday morning. — Photo by Joe Gibbons/The Telegram

Special H1N1 vaccines are coming for pregnant women and were expected to arrive in the province today.

The province will also receive about 1,000 more regular vaccines than it expected in this week's limited allotment from Health Canada.

Some 2,900 doses of the unadjuvanted vaccine - which is most recommended for pregnant women - will be given out by appointment because of the smaller numbers requiring it, Health Minister Jerome Kennedy announced Monday in his daily media briefing with provincial chief medical officer Dr. Faith Stratton.

Kennedy said it was expected the regular H1N1 vaccine was expected to run out in the St. John's area by today, but not in rural Avalon.

But some 7,500 doses of the adjuvanted - a faster reacting vaccine - will arrive Wednesday.

Kennedy said he would announce today what groups would be now vaccinated, but intends to keep the focus on children.

Adults with chronic health conditions were originally considered high risk and of priority to get vaccines, but because of mass lineups lasting hours, the criteria was tightened Friday.

Not only were healthy people lining up to get the vaccine along with children and people with chronic conditions, but many nurses were offering the vaccine to parents who brought their kids in.

So the rules were tightened to children six months to five years and people up to age 24 with chronic health conditions, pregnant women in the second half of their pregnancy and then, Sunday, caregivers of people that can't be immunized in those age ranges, as well as those of infants.

Many worried people have been publicly critical of the decision to exclude adults with chronic health conditions and Kennedy acknowledged he has received e-mails from people asking when their turn would come.

The province's first death from H1N1 was a 36-year-old woman with an underlying health condition in central Newfoundland.

"Yesterday I was shook up. Still, today, I really want to send out condolences to the family of that lady who died," Kennedy said.

"I sat there yesterday and wondered am I making the right decision ... (but) I feel looking after our children I am doing the right thing."

He said adults with chronic health conditions represent 20 per cent of the population and with the limited number of vaccines he can't just pick and choose among those adults who get it.

If the province receives its regular allotment of vaccines next week it could get up to 57,000 doses. Children under 10 only need a half dose, which has allowed the vaccine to be spread further.

Stratton said Monday 26 more people were admitted to hospital with respiratory illness in a 24-hour period since Sunday, with seven of those in intensive care and four on ventilators. The seven are in central and western. Though it's not known exactly how many of those hospitalized are H1N1 cases, a significant number are, Stratton said.

The virus has hit the west coast the hardest.

Besides the vaccine, medical officials have also stockpiled some 880,000 doses of antiviral Tamiflu used to treat severe symptoms.

Kennedy acknowledged the mistakes that were made Friday with the immunization clinics and said Eastern Health is looking into why the policy on who was to be given the vaccine didn't filter down, as well as how health care workers last week were able to sneak in family members to get the vaccine.

Some of the lineups at Eastern Health seemed to be running smoother Monday.

Monday morning, there was no one waiting outside Hazelwood Elementary in the west end and people in vehicles are being screened by security on the parking lot. People were again screened at the door by Eastern Health officials and are being given numbers.

"I'm impressed," said Nicki Tonkin-Normore, who brought her two children to the clinic Monday morning. "I was expecting four to six hours."

But she was given a number and was in and out in roughly an hour. Waits on Friday around the city were as high as nine hours.

Chris Dillon brought one of his three sons Monday to Hazelwood in a tag-team effort that saw his wife go at 5:30 a.m. Saturday morning at Cordage Place to be early in line to get a number for another of their three boys.

They are hoping their third son, aged seven, will get the vaccine in school, but have been keeping him at home until then to make sure he doesn't contract the virus.

"Why be in a panic? Wait your turn," Dillon said Monday.

Schools have continued to see high absenteeism. Some 33 of the Eastern District's 87 schools had an absenteeism rate of 20-29 per cent and 35 schools had 30-39 per cent of their student absent.

Meanwhile, Stratton noted there have been two adverse reactions to the vaccine so far - one a swelling of the throat or mouth and the other a rash.

Pregnant women wanting to make an appointment can now start calling toll free lines - set up for H1N1 concerns - and the vaccine will start to be given out Wednesday.

The toll free lines are as follows: Eastern Health 1-877-752-4358; Central Health 1-877-311-261; Western Health 1-877-632-H1N1(4161); Labrador-Grenfell Health 1-877-896-0422

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