The province is doubling its number of H1N1 vaccination clinics and staff but says it may still be until Christmas before everyone is immunized.
In a news conference held on Sunday, Minister of Health and Long-Term Care Deb Matthews advised Ontarians to talk to their doctor about getting the vaccine, urging people who aren’t in the designated priority groups to stay away from the clinics until they are asked to come.
Matthews also address long wait times on the provincial Telehealth phone service, saying additional staff have been put in place to better handle the influx of calls.
Dr. Arlene King, Ontario’s chief medical officer, says it will be “some time” before everyone who wants the shot can get it.
The province is still working to immunize people in its priority groups, such as children, pregnant women and people with underlying medical conditions.
H1N1 immunization clinics continued in some parts of the GTA on Sunday but were closed in Toronto, following three days of swarming lineups and frustration for many of those seeking the shot.
Tensions flared Saturday afternoon outside the Etobicocke Civic Centre, which reached its maximum of patients shortly after noon.
Frustrated people lashed out at clinic workers when they learned that those still in line, many who had been there for several hours, would have to return on Monday. The line was also closed early at the only other clinic in the city, at the East York Civic Centre.
The national shortage of the H1N1 vaccine is putting crimps in plans to roll out the shot outside of Ontario as well.
In Alberta, the government has been forced to close all vaccination clinics across the province. Officials there say clinics for people in priority groups will likely resume tomorrow or Tuesday.
People who are not in the priority group will be turned away when the clinics resume operations.
Meanwhile, Ontario has recorded its third H1N1-linked death in just over a week. Officials say a Niagara Falls-area woman with underlying medical conditions died earlier this week.
Parents in southwestern Ontario say their 12-year-old daughter died after contracting the H1N1 virus. Leanne and Paul Hergott say their daughter Sarah got sick last Saturday and died on Thursday.
The couple says their daughter had an underlying medical condition and hospital staff told them she had contracted H1N1.
Evan Frustaglio, 13, died Monday after contracting the H1N1 virus. He had taken part in a hockey tournament in London the weekend before he died, where he complained of throat and neck pain.
His friends and family members will say their final goodbyes at a funeral ceremony on Monday.
