The biggest mass vaccination campaign in B.C. history begins this week. High priority groups will start to be innoculated against swine flu.

B.C. now has 230,000 doses of H1N1 influenza vaccine that go first to people under 65 with chronic risk conditions, pregnant women and all people, including First Nations, who live in remote or isolated communities.

The following week, in early November, vaccinations will open up to children aged six months to five years, health care workers and household contacts or care providers for infants under six months or people who are immuno-compromised.

In mid-November, the H1N1 vaccine is expected to be made available to everyone.

Provincial health officer Dr. Perry Kendall urged those fearful of H1N1 to wait for their turn in priority and not to attempt to get the vaccine ahead of schedule.

“I would ask healthy members of the public to stand back and allow those who can benefit most to obtain the vaccine first,” he said.

B.C. will also now allow vaccine recipients to get both H1N1 vaccine and seasonal flu vaccine at the same time — one shot in each arm.

The doses now arriving are adjuvanted vaccine, meaning they contain compounds that boost the immune system’s response and allow smaller amounts of the active vaccine ingredient to be used in each dose.

An unadjuvanted version of the vaccine that’s considered safer for pregnant women is expected to be available by the second week of November. But those who are in the second half of pregnancy, considered at high risk of severe illness from H1N1, are urged to quickly get the adjuvanted vaccine.

“The risk of contracting H1N1 and developing a complication if you’re pregnant far outweighs any possible theoretical risk from an adjuvanted vaccine,” Kendall said.

Concern about both the use of adjuvanted vaccine and the presence of minute amounts of mercury in the vaccine have fanned fears among some people.

“If you google H1N1, most of what comes up is conspiracy theory paranoia that this is a government plot to kill you,” Kendall said. “It’s not true.”

He said extensive safety precautions are in place but there will be some “paranoid” people.

“We would not be recommending a vaccine we did not think was safe,” he said.

Kendall estimated at least 10 per cent of the population will eventually be infected by H1N1.

The vaccine will be available from many family doctors, medical clinics, hospital-based public health clinics and even many pharmacists, who have been approved for the first time to vaccinate people.

It’s normal to have sore, swollen area where flu vaccine is given, and officials say some recipients may experience muscle ache, but that should end within a few days.

Timeline

Now

Seasonal flu vaccinations for people 65 and over and those living in long-term care homes.

Week of Oct. 26

Top-priority groups for H1N1 vaccine ­— people under 65 with chronic conditions; pregnant women; people living in remote and isolated settings or communities. 

Week of Nov. 2

H1N1 vaccine also becomes available to children 6 months to less than 5 years of age, health care workers, household contacts and care providers of infants less than 6 months of age, and persons who are immunocompromised.

Mid-to-late-November

H1N1 vaccinations available to everyone.