While concern is rising across the country over the resurgence of H1N1, the availability of the vaccine is dropping.

Supplies of the vaccine are so low that Interior Health has cancelled all the flu clinics they had planned for next week, except for those in four smaller communities: Lillooet, Nakusp, Sparwood, and Princeton.

As predicted in August, H1N1 has reappeared, using schools as one of the main paths to spread.

According to Dr. Rob Parker, medical health officer with Interior Health, they first started seeing the resurgence in the East Kootenays but it has now spread to the Western areas of the IHA region.

“The increase has ramped up significantly,” he said. The best method for preventing the spread of H1N1, he added, is preventative: hand washing and staying home from school and other social gatherings if you are showing symptoms.

If significant vaccine supplies do become available by mid-November, Interior Health said they will again set up mass immunization clinics across the region. If vaccine supply is adequate and B.C.’s provincial health officer agrees, these clinics would be available for all the general public to be immunized, not simply high-risk individuals.

The decision to offer clinics in the four smaller communities was based on available vaccine supply as well as their proximity to larger clinics in their geographic area and because they have not had a flu clinic in their community yet.

As in all clinics so far, these clinics will only be for individuals in high risk groups that meet the eligibility criteria for H1N1 vaccine and seasonal vaccine.

Details on dates, times and locations are still being worked out and will be posted on www.interiorhealth.ca.

For the week Nov. 9-14, people living in communities where there will not be a mass clinic should check with their family physician or walk-in clinics to see if they have some remaining vaccine available.