Clinics and doctors' office are struggling to keep up with a deluge of demand for the H1N1 flu vaccine.

Some locations have run out of the initial supply of the vaccine provided by the Fraser or Vancouver Coastal health authorities.

Denning Health Group vice-president Paul Foster said the Trenant Park Medical Clinic in Ladner and Cedar Hills Clinic in Surrey ran out Wednesday and were told it would be a couple of days before more arrives.

Patients trying to get inoculated have been advised to try elsewhere.

Denning's eight clinics in the Lower Mainland got 700 doses Monday.

"It's not going to be enough," Foster said. "We're getting literally hundreds of phone calls a day at our sites."

Another major clinic in White Rock posted a sign on its door saying it is also out of vaccine.

"People are waiting and we can't give it to them," said White Rock Medical Associates manager Kim Goodwin.

The 70 initial doses the clinic received were gone in 30 minutes and she estimated local demand there for the H1N1 vaccine could run into the thousands.

Goodwin said Fraser Health should rethink its strategy, since the region has the largest number of severe cases and deaths of any B.C. health region.

"You would think that the area that appears to be hardest hit would be the one that would be rolling it out, but that's not really the case."

Fraser Health spokesperson Joan Marshall said more H1N1 vaccine arrived Wednesday, doubling the region's initial supply to 140,000 doses.

"Hopefully they're starting to be replenished," she said of clinics that have run out.

Meanwhile, people trying to get advice from the 811 Nurse Line have often got a busy signal.

"811 was jammed," said May Steinbebach, a Surrey resident who has asthma and scrambled last weekend trying to figure out where to get the shot.

"I called them probably 20 or 30 times and they were always busy."

She eventually got vaccinated after waiting in line for four hours Monday at a North Delta walk-in clinic. She had phoned dozens of other clinics or offices before finding one that would take her.

A provincial government spokesperson said 35 more lines have now been added to handle extra 811 call volume, bringing the total lines up to 142. Instead of a busy signal, callers will get a recorded message directing with more information.

The widespread confusion about where to go to get the shot stems in part from the different rollout in differing health regions.

The Vancouver Coastal Health Authority has provided the vaccine mainly through public clinics initially, while Fraser Health has concentrated on delivering its initial supply via doctors' offices.

Those doctors' offices aren't shown on a flu clinic locator map

(posted by the province at
www.health.gov.bc.ca/flu/ ).

As a result, the online map led many people to conclude H1N1 vaccine isn't available in Fraser – it shows H1N1 vaccine is only available at clinics in Vancouver, Richmond and the North Shore and only seasonal flu vaccine being provided in Fraser.

"It is chaos in terms of being able to identify whether you need the vaccine and then be able to get it," said NDP MLA Sue Hammell (Surrey-Green Timbers).

"There has been confusion in the messaging from the get-go in terms of obtaining the vaccine."

She said she also believes B.C. simply doesn't have enough of the drug.

"There initially was some confusion," Fraser Health's Marshall said.

"As the days continue people are becoming more familiar with how it's working."

This first week of vaccinations is supposed to be reserved for pregnant women, people under 65 with chronic health problems and people living in remote communities or First Nations reserves.

But there have also been accusations that healthy people are jumping the line and getting the vaccination ahead of schedule, potentially jeopardizing the health of those in the high-risk groups.

Provincial health officer Dr. Perry Kendall has repeatedly urged people to follow the schedule, but distribution has been mainly on the honour system at many sites.

Fraser Health's decision to initially roll out the vaccine mainly through doctors' offices was in part aimed at preventing queue-jumpers – someone would be less likely to try to falsely claim to their family doctor or their staff that they have an underlying medical condition.

H1N1 vaccinations are to open up next week to children aged six months to five years, health care workers and household contacts or care providers of infants under six months or people with compromised immune systems.

The vaccine is to be made available to all in mid-November.

Twelve people in B.C. have died so far from the H1N1 virus, and three of those came last week. About 200 people have so far been hospitalized with severe cases of H1N1.

– with files from Tracy Holmes, Peace Arch News