As Canadians crammed into overrun health centres for the H1N1 shot Friday, health officials warned of big vaccine shortages in the coming weeks.
Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Butler-Jones said that only about 600,000 doses would be available across the country at the end of next week.
That compares to about three million doses which have been sent out in each of the previous three weeks.
The Quebec-based company Glaxo Smith Kline will roll out 400,000 doses with the adjuvant booster while another 200,000 shots without adjuvant will come in from outside the country.
Butler-Jones also asked for patients who aren't considered high-risk to give groups like children pregnant women first priority.
"Please make room others," he said.
About six million doses have been rolled out so far and some provinces still have an inventory. However, those shots could be depleted in the coming weeks as millions of Canadians line up at health centres across the country.
Still, Butler-Jones said that production in the coming weeks will be ramped up once again. He estimated that around a million doses will be available in two weeks time, with an additional 3.5 million coming out the following week.
Officials have also explained -- quoting statistics from the World Health Organization -- that one dose is sufficient for children. Current guidelines from Canadian health officials call for children under the age of 10 to receive two doses, with 21 days between them.
Meanwhile, Ontario Health Minister Deb Matthews said that Canada's most populated province would receive only 170,000 doses next week, down from an expected shipment of one million.
Higher that expected turnouts at health centres have forced officials to turn thousands of people away. In Calgary, clinics were forced to shut their doors to new patients by noon Friday because of massive demand.
Alberta health services said vaccinations would resume Saturday, but they warned that massive demand could again lead to early closures.
Responding to criticism, Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq said the government is getting the doses out as quickly as they are being manufactured.
"Things change, we need to adapt," she said at a press conference. "Glaxo Smith Kline warned us yesterday (and) this is part of managing the process."
Butler-Jones said that the operation is the largest mass immunization in Canadian history and officials want to ensure that everything is completed safely.
"This is unprecedented," he told CTV's Power Play on Friday afternoon.
Still, Butler-Jones noted that with six million shots already out across the county, Canada "has more doses relative to the population than any other country in the world."
"It is a fast-moving field, everybody in the world is working as quickly as possible to ensure that all the measures are in place."
But Liberal MP Bob Rae said the shortages are unacceptable.
"The people who are dying have not had access to the vaccine," he told Power Play. "I don't think there's any getting around that fact."
With files from The Canadian Press
