N.W.T. rolls out H1N1 flu vaccine plans

Health officials in the Northwest Territories will offer both regular flu shots and a vaccine for the H1N1 influenza virus in the coming months.

The territorial Health Department said Monday that the seasonal flu shot will be made available in the firsttwo weeks of October to high-risk residents over age 65.

The general populationcan receive the H1N1 vaccine starting in November.

Children under the age of 10 will get the H1N1 vaccine in two doses, with the second dose to come four weeks after the first, while adults and children over the age of 10 will receive just one dose.

The seasonal flu vaccine will then be offered to everyone under65in December and January, acting chief medical officer Dr. Kami Kandola told reporters Monday in Yellowknife.

Kandola said the H1N1 flu virus will be the main flu strainto spread this fallin the N.W.T., with health officials preparingincaseupwards of 30 per cent of the populationcontracts it.

She said health officials expect to see a drop in the number of swine flu cases once people are immunized for the H1N1 virus, but that will likely be followed by a wave of seasonal flu cases.

Risks of seasonal shot unconfirmed

The seasonal flu vaccine will provide protection from two influenza A strains and one influenza B strain, all related to flu strains reported in Australia, Kandola said.

She added that health officials have not yet confirmed early findings from Canadian researchers that suggest people who get the seasonal flu shot may be twice as likely to get the H1N1 virus. That research has not yet been peer-reviewed or published.

"We haven't had the opportunity to look at that data, because it is unpublished," she said.

"We do know that in the U.S. and the U.K., they have not been able to replicate this data."

Kandola said the N.W.T. and the other territories will offer the H1N1 flu shot to their general populations ahead of the provinces, which will have to prioritize who within their populations will receive the vaccines first.

That is because the northern territories are in a priority group that includes people in northern and remote communities, pregnant women, health-care workers and people with chronic health conditions.