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By ADAM BOWIE
bowie.adam@dailygleaner.com

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New Brunswick is reporting a slew of new hospitalizations associated with the H1N1 virus.

Health officials say that 33 New Brunswickers have been admitted to hospital in connection with the pandemic flu this week.

Dr. Eilish Cleary, chief medical officer of health, said that's consistent with what other provinces are reporting.

"Most of the cases we've seen have been mild, although we are aware of a few of them that are in intensive care and requiring more intensive treatment," she said.

She said this isn't a surprise to the Department of Health.

"We've been expecting that as we see more cases, we'll see more people admitted to the hospital," she said.

"Some of them will be more severe."

By the end of the weekend, Cleary said about 140,000 New Brunswickers will have received the H1N1 vaccine.

With a shipment of 40,000 more doses expected to arrive by the middle of next week, the province's two regional health authorities are busy planning where and when they can hold public vaccination clinics.

Cleary said the majority of the vaccine has been delivered in the province's largest communities.

"It was distributed on a per-capita basis," the chief medical officer said.

"So areas where there's a greater population would have gotten more; areas where there's less, would have got less. It was designed to meet the needs of their particular target population."

A number of clinics will be announced over the next few days, so people are urged to check the government's flu website and call the toll-free hotline.