7 deaths from swine flu in N.B.

Seven people in New Brunswick have now died from the swine flu, five of them in the past week, health officials say.

All of them had at least one pre-existing medical condition that increased their risk of complications from influenza, said Dr. Eilish Cleary, the province's chief medical officer of health.

The victims include four men and three women, she said Thursday during her weekly update on the pandemic. Two were in their 40s, two were in their 50s and three were over 60.

A total of 157 people have been hospitalized in the provincesince the pandemic began in April, Cleary said. Almost half were under the age of 20, while the rest were evenly distributed among other age groups.

Twenty-five required intensive care and of those, 17 had an underlying medical condition that put them at risk, she said.

"While the vast majority of cases continue to be mild, these serious cases and deaths reinforce the need to quickly vaccinate as many people as possible," Cleary stated in a news release.

Clinics for general public

By Monday, vaccination clinics across the province should open for the general public, she said.

Although 108,000 doses of the vaccine arrived this week, there still isn't enough toimmunize everyone at once, nor is it logistically possible, Cleary said.

Public health officials are working on ways to space out distribution and avoid lineups at those clinics, she said.

Depending on population size in each community and the venues available, different methods will be used. For example, some clinics may require that people line up to get a bracelet or coupon before being vaccinated, some may be by appointment only, and some may be alphabetized by last name, Cleary said.

The vaccine is also being distributed to all doctors and major employers who are willing and able to offer vaccination to help ease the pressure at public clinics, she said.

There have been fewer new confirmed cases of the virus, which indicates vaccination is having an impact, said Cleary.

But New Brunswick is continuing to see widespread swine flu activity and people shouldn't be complacent, she stressed.

"My concern is that people will get the message that 'Well, it's all over and done with', and that's not the case at all. There's still a lot of value and importance in people who have not been vaccinated getting their vaccination."

About one-third of the population has been vaccinated against the swine flu to date.

Meanwhile, health officials continue to focus on getting the rest of the priority groups vaccinated, including people with chronic illnesses, such as weakened immune systems, heart conditions and diabetes, she said.