N.S. outlines H1N1 vaccine for children

Health officials in Nova Scotia provided more information on Monday about the availability of the H1N1 vaccine for children.

Dr. Robert Strang, the chief public health officer, said healthy children aged three to nine will need only one dose of vaccine. The Public Health Agency of Canada had previously recommended that children receive two half-doses of the swine flu vaccine.

Strang said there are somechildren who will still need two doses at a minimum of21 days apart. Because the first public clinics in the province began three weeks ago, there are children who will be eligible for that second dose this week.

They are:

• Children between six months and three years of age.
• Children aged three to nine years who have immunity issues.
• Children aged three to nine years who have chronic medical conditions.

Meanwhile, the province has also received federal licensing to provide the 23,500 doses of its adjuvant-free vaccine. The supply will be distributed to doctors' offices this week.

That version of the vaccine is available for pregnant women, as well as those with chronic conditions between the ages of 10 and 64 years who are not immunocompromised.

"We have this pool of unadjuvanted vaccine, more than we can use in pregnant women," Strang said."We put it in doctors' offices so they can use their clinical judgment, it allows their supply of vaccine to go further."