Journal photo by Bruce Penton

Lineups were long last Thursday at the Town Centre as people waited to receive an H1N1 flu vaccine shot. And since school was out, the line included many children, including eight-year-old Jack Lumbard, shown here getting prepped for his shot from nurse Trudy Curtis while Jack’s mother, Kelly Lumbard, and his big brother Holden, 10, watch.

If all you want for Christmas is a flu vaccination shot, you’re in luck. The priority lists have been tossed away, and now everyone has the opportunity to get a vaccine shot for the H1N1 flu virus.

The Brandon Regional Health Authority announced last week that H1N1 vaccine would be made available to anyone who wants or needs the vaccine and will benefit from it. “We’ll be doing no more screening,” said Carmel Olson, CEO of the BRHA.

The first of the wide-open clinics — all to be held at the Town Centre — was held Tuesday, Nov. 24, with other ones scheduled for:

• Thursday, Nov. 26, 9:30 to 8 p.m.

• Saturday, Nov. 28 — 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

• Tuesday, Dec. 1 — 9:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.

• Thursday, Dec. 3 — 9:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.

• Saturday, Dec. 5 — 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

• Wednesday, Dec. 9 — 9:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.

• Thursday, Dec. 10 — 9:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.

• Saturday, Dec. 12 — 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Olson said the clinic schedule was set up with a lot of optimism involved. “We based the clinics on the facts that the doses we have been receiving have been increasing,” she said. “For next week, we think we’ll be getting 6,000 doses, but it’s all very unpredictable. If we get 6,000 and it increases the next week, we should be OK.”

Olson said the number of people who could be vaccinated depends on other factors, too, such as how many nurses can be scheduled. “We’ve seen that per nurse, a person can be vaccinated about every three to five minutes.”

She said the number of doses that actually arrive will determine whether the BHRA can adhere to the schedule it has announced. “If we have to change it, we will, but for now we’re optimistic that our supplies will allow us to keep this schedule.”

Janice Loe, director of public health services, said as of last Thursday, approximately 7,300 people had been vaccinated. That represents about 15 per cent of the BRHA population, she said.

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