A shortage of the H1N1 vaccine means only people in the high risk groups will be given a swine flu shot next week, according to Ontario’s chief medical officer of health.

Dr. Arlene King said Friday the general public will be turned away from clinics next week because of a huge demand across Canada for the H1N1 vaccine.

“It’s disappointing we aren’t getting more vaccine next week,” King told a news conference Friday.
In Peel, residents turned up in droves at early clinics set up by Public Health.

People waited in line for as long as three hours as nurses administered the vaccine to about 1,500 during Wednesday’s flu shot clinic at Mississauga’s International Centre.
 
In some parts of the GTA, some flu shot seekers were turned away from clinics after waiting in line for hours.

These clinics were only for people under 65 years of age who live or work in Peel, and have chronic medical conditions like asthma, diabetes, heart, lung or kidney disease, and their healthcare workers.

The heavy turn out sparked concerns that the federal government won’t be able to replenish Ontario’s stock fast enough.

Ottawa announced it will only receive about 665,000 doses of the swine flu vaccine from manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline Inc. next week.

Canada’s dramatic shortage of H1N1 flu vaccine means a scaling back inoculation efforts in Ontario.

Ontario, which received 700,000 doses this week and expected 1 million next week, will only get 170,000 over the coming week.

As a result, King said only priority groups will be getting the shot.

Health officials anticipate the shortage will only last one week.

After that, the government expects 3.5 million per week.