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By ADAM BOWIE
bowie.adam@dailygleaner.com

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Health officials are working on measures that will help New Brunswickers with chronic illnesses access the H1N1 vaccine more easily, but they won't be ready for a little while.

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Flu shot supplies dwindling: Dr. Eilish Cleary, chief medical officer of health, said New Brunswick will receive another shipment of vaccine later this week. Unfortunately, it will be about a quarter less than it had originally expected. The province has vaccinated close to 100,000 citizens since the program began last week.

Sonya Green-Hache, a spokeswoman for the Horizon Health Network, said health officials from the provincial government and both of New Brunswick's regional health authorities would like to target patients with chronic conditions and make it easier for them to access the pandemic vaccine.

She said front-line health-care employees will play an important role in the process.

"The Department of Health is exploring other strategies in working with (the health authority's) chronic disease medical specialists and family physicians to reach that audience further," she said.

Dr. Eilish Cleary, chief medical officer of health, said it's not always possible for chronic patients to attend public clinics with long lineups, so the province would like to make it easier to protect patients with compromised immune systems.

"Doing it the targeted way, we believe it will be more effective at ensuring we get the higher-risk people," she said.

She said she'll be meeting with officials from both regional health authorities later this week and she hopes she'll soon have a better sense as to how the targeted vaccination program will unfold.

Fredericton resident Richard Waugh, who suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, said he's glad to hear the province is thinking about patients with chronic illnesses.

He said people with respiratory conditions have considerable trouble breathing in their day-to-day lives and any illness that could worsen the situation would put them in great danger.

Waugh said he hopes residents with chronic conditions can be protected as quickly as possible.

"If they can take it, and it doesn't put them in a bad condition, that's great," he said.

"You want to be as protected as possible."

Barbara Walls, director of health promotions with the New Brunswick Lung Association, said she'll be watching to see how the province gets the vaccine to those with a chronic illness. She said the vaccine should help protect patients who already have serious health issues.

"It's being very heavily promoted for people with underlying medical conditions - COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), diabetes, and others," she said.

"The difference with H1N1 is that it goes to the deeper lobes of the lung, so if you have someone with COPD who is already very compromised and having to cough up (fluid) a lot, they are at very high risk of developing a critical illness."