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Canwest News Service
Approximately 1.8 million doses of H1N1 vaccine are expected to be available next week, the federal government said yesterday, as four more Canadian deaths were reported.
Under attack over the unpredictability of the vaccine supply, Prime Minister Stephen Harper quoted the estimate during Question Period, saying the next shipment will mean that more than eight million doses will have been delivered to the provinces and territories.
In Quebec, it was reported that a 42-year-old woman, a health-care worker who had minor asthma, died on Tuesday night. She had received an H1N1 shot two days before she developed flu symptoms. The vaccine can take approximately 10 days to provide immunity.
And in London, Ont., health officials last night reported that a two-month-old baby with H1N1 had died.
The baby, along with an elderly couple in their seventies, died from flu-like symptoms, the Middlesex-London Health Unit said in a statement yesterday.
"Although the exact virus subtype is not yet known, all three cases are likely to be the novel H1N1 strain, as it is the only influenza A strain currently circulating in the community," according to the news release.
Ontario’s chief medical officer appeared to be caught off-guard yesterday by the Prime Minister’s announcement concerning the number of vaccine doses to be available next week.
"We have not received any confirmation from the federal government yet as to how much vaccine we’re getting, at all. We have received no numbers," Dr. Arlene King said.
The H1N1 vaccine was in short supply this week, forcing last-minute adjustments to the rollout of immunization programs across the country and the cancellation of some clinics. Remaining clinics could run out of supply by the end of the week.
All provinces did receive shipments of the unadjuvanted vaccine this week, which are not included in those totals. The unadjuvanted vaccine is the version without a booster that is intended for pregnant women.
Of the 1.8 million doses available for next week, 800,000 are of the unadjuvanted vaccine.
