A second person in this province has died from swine flu. "It's with regret that I confirm that we've now had our second H1N1 related death in this province," Health Minister Jerome Kennedy told reporters Wednesday at his daily update on the pandemic.

The 40-year-old man who was said to have "multiple underlying conditions," died in hospital in the central region of the province.

Kennedy expressed the province's condolences to the man's family and friends, as did Central Health CEO Karen McGrath in a news release.

"It's very upsetting to find ourselves in this situation again so soon," she said.

A 36-year-old woman who died over the weekend, also in the central region, was the first confirmed death from the virus in the province.

Kennedy was joined Wednesday afternoon by the province's chief medical officer of health, Dr. Faith Stratton, and Education Minister Darin King, who gave an update on vaccination plans for school children.

School kids to start getting shots

Students in kindergarten to Grade 3 will start to be immunized today.

According to the minister, there are a little less than 12,000 children in that age range in the province.

King said it may be next week before all those kids get their shot, and he said teachers and other school employees won't be included at this time.

King also reaffirmed that sports tournaments and many other inter-school activities are being postponed until at least next week.

The Eastern School District posted the in-school vaccination schedule to its website late Wednesday afternoon.

At around the same time, Eastern Health announced it would close two of its immunization centres on the northeast Avalon to focus on the immunization of students.

The Rotary Paradise Youth Centre and Hazlewood Elementary immunization clinics will close to let those public health officials focus on the children.

The immunization clinics at Macdonald Drive Elementary and the Reid Centre in Mount Pearl will remain open.

Hospital admissions continue to rise

New numbers on hospitalizations around the province were also released.

Between 8 a.m. Tuesday to 8 a.m. Wednesday, 36 additional people were admitted to hospital with flu like symptoms, 13 of those have ended up in intensive care and six of those are now on ventilators.

While most of the cases requiring hospitalization have been in the western and central regions to date, Stratton noted many of those admitted in the last day or so are in the Eastern Health District.

In total, as of 8 a.m. Wednesday 137 were in hospital, 21 of those intensive care and eight on ventilators.

But Kennedy noted as people start to recover, some are coming off ventilators or out of intensive care so the numbers change hourly.

Kennedy also said the province has now received 7,500 extra doses of the vaccine from Health Canada, which brings its current stockpile up to about 18,000 doses.

The distribution of 2,900 doses of non-adjuvented vaccine for pregnant women also began Wednesday.

But the minister said he's still not sure how many more doses the province may get from Ottawa next week.

Fear and frustration

Overall Kennedy said the province is doing what it can with the amount of vaccine it has at its disposal.

"We are reaching more of the public, and as large a percentage of the public, as any other province with our vaccination program," he said.

Kennedy also acknowledged the pandemic is starting to take a "significant toll" on people and the health-care system.

He said e-mails are coming in from people from all walks of life from teachers to bus drivers wanting to know when it will be their turn to get immunized.

"I understand the fear and frustration that people are feeling," Kennedy said. "We can't deal with individual cases."

He said the hospitals are coping well so far, but there are still a lot of people left to vaccinate.

The Newfoundland and Labrador Centre for Health Information also advised the media Wednesday it has started to disclose personal information from its client registry to the Department of Health for use in relation to the H1N1 Mass Immunization Program, which it's allowed to do under a section in the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

Questions regarding soldiers

Kennedy was also asked about reports that Canadian Forces personnel and reservist in this province are getting the vaccine before school children.

He hadn't heard that, but was aware that Ottawa did set aside vaccine for Department of National Defence employees.

Kennedy said if it were up to him, that would not happen.

"Our priority list is as we've outlined and we are not deviating from that list," he said.

dbartlett@thetelegram.com

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