There’s been strong demand for the limited supply of H1N1 flu vaccine available locally so far, but there’s also a segment of the community with a history of vaccination refusal on religious or other grounds.

The net effect of those refusals could help the spread of the pandemic H1N1 flu virus, and hinder the mass immunization effort, say health officials.

“Our approach is to give out the best information we can, and to give the best recommendations that we can,” said Dr. Gillian Arsenault, medical health officer for Fraser Health, in a phone interview with The Progress.

The H1N1 vaccine was rolled out in Fraser Health last week through doctors’ offices, and was strongly recommended for people with chronic illnesses, pregnant women, and residents of remote communities.

Now there’s a public H1N1 flu vaccine clinic in Chilliwack is slated for Thursday, Nov. 5 at Evergreen Hall from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. for those same target groups, with added categories of children aged six months to five years, as well household members and caregivers of infants and those with weakened immune systems.

“When it comes down to it, everyone has the freedom to choose,” Dr. Arsenault said. “But along with that freedom comes responsibility. If you wish to risk yourself, you can. But if you get sick, for heaven’s sake stay home and don’t infect anyone else.”

The flu virus is a “sneaky” one.

“You become infectious with the flu the day before you get symptoms,” she underlined.

The H1N1 is characterized by a rapid onset of symptoms, headache, sore throat fever, with aches, followed by coughing, sneezing and sometimes stomach symptoms.

One good thing about a pandemic is it tends to improve everyone’s hygiene practices, she said.

“That’s why physical barrier efforts to keep the droplets out of everyone’s common breathing space, are so crucial,” she said.

It takes about 10 days after getting the adjuvanted vaccine to become immune.

Dr. Arsenault said she hopes several things as the H1N1 flu pandemic continues working its way around the world.

“I hope first that people will look at the evidence and decide they like the vaccine better than the disease,” she said. “I also hope that this flu goes away — and the faster, the better.”

The more people get vaccinated, the faster it will go away, Arsenault said, emphasizing there are only two ways to achieve immunity: getting the flu virus, or getting the vaccine.

“If you don’t get it, you’re a sitting duck for the infection,” she pointed out.

Dr. Arsenault spoke about vaccine refusal in The Progress last year when an outbreak of the mumps was traced to a local fundamentalist community, for similar reasons.

It made the community highly susceptible to whatever was circulating, she said.

“It’s not just in Chilliwack, but also in other areas where they’re refusing vaccination,” she said. “However, you might see the approach changes on an individual basis when they experience serious disease, or know someone who has. I think we feel a lot freer to criticize vaccines when we forget what the diseases can do.”

“No vaccine is perfect, so no one should assume they’re invulnerable,” but it’s still better than the disease, the health official said.

She said there are “some really weird” opinions circulating about the H1N1 vaccine, “some of which have been thoroughly debunked” by the scientific community.

One example is the misplaced concern over the ingredient squalene, which was not contained in the anthrax vaccine taken by Gulf War soldiers, contrary to Internet rumours.

Can communities that decide not to get vaccinated effectively poke holes in the immunization safety net?

“We don’t have a safety net now,” she corrected. “We’re just starting to knot the threads that will form the safety net with the start of mass vaccination.

“We hope it will stop the virus from moving through our population. So right now, Chilliwack is no different than anywhere else.

“But as other places that are highly vaccinated start to benefit from protection, the places not so highly vaccinated, for whatever reason, are still fertile ground for the virus.”

Vaccination clinics aren’t expected to open up to the general public until sufficient supplies of vaccine are available. Provincial officials say production and shipment delays mean they are unlikely to make the vaccine available to all until the fourth week of November.

jfeinberg@theprogress.com