IQALUIT - People need not worry about the H1N1 vaccine, it is perfectly safe, say Canada's top health officials.

Federal Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq looks at chief public health officer Dr. David Butler-Jones during a public meeting to discuss H1N1, also known as swine flu. - Erika Sherk/NNSL photo

Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq held a town hall meeting in Iqaluit last Tuesday – announced to the public just hours before it began – to clear up myths about the H1N1 virus and its preventative vaccine.

"It has been a huge challenge for anyone in the health care system to manage the information out there," she said, due to the myths and facts swirling around the subject.

The meeting, which is the first of several across Canada, focused on H1N1 vaccination. The H1N1 flu shots will arrive in Nunavut the first week of November, Aglukkaq said.

"We know it is safe and it is effective," said Dr. David Butler-Jones, chief public health officer, who is presiding at the meetings alongside Aglukkaq.

People are worried about the speed with which the vaccine was developed, said Denise Antle, an Iqaluit resident who spoke out at the meeting.

"A lot of people are scared that that might have repercussions down the road," she said.

Butler-Jones said there is nothing to worry about, and that the vaccine has met "stringent guidelines."

"It's very, very safe … nothing has been skipped in the process," he said, adding that side effects are extremely rare.

"We have a lot of experience with influenza vaccines," he said of Canada.

Though the majority of cases are said to be mild, so far 66 people in Nunavut have been hospitalized due to this flu and one woman who was pregnant has died. Pregnant women, people with poor lung health, and those with poor nutrition are particularly at risk of complications from the H1N1 flu and Nunavut has high rates of all three, Aglukkaq said.

The larger communities will be vaccinated first and action teams will then spread out to the medium-sized settlements, according to Dr. Geraldine Osborne, Nunavut's deputy chief medical officer of health, who spoke at the meeting. Health care workers in the smallest communities can handle the vaccinations on their own, she said.

Nunavut's flu shot teams will be made up of local health workers, said Osborne.

In nurse-starved parts of Canada, pharmacists, veterinarians and paramedics will join the teams in order to vaccinate the country en masse, Aglukkaq said.

According to the plan, by the second week everyone in the territory will have their chance to be vaccinated for H1N1.

The seasonal flu shots, usually given in the fall, are not yet scheduled, said Osborne.

"We're still putting finishing touches to the roll-out of vaccines," she said.

The types of influenza will be monitored and the department of health will decide later on if seasonal flu vaccines are necessary, she added.

In the NWT, seniors are receiving the seasonal flu virus first because that sickness, not H1N1, is hitting the age group the most. This is not the case with elders in Nunavut, according to Osborne.

"We haven't been seeing any other influenza circulating," she said.

Only two communities in Nunavut have not had lab-confirmed cases of H1N1, Nunavut's chief medical officer Dr. Isaac Sobel told Nunavut News/North in late September. It is likely those communities have been hit by the flu, he said, and the cases went unconfirmed.

Nunavut doesn't require special treatment, said Aglukkaq.

"H1N1 is H1N1 in every jurisdiction."

The challenge, she said, is making sure everyone in the territory is encouraged to get the vaccine, she said.

"It's a tougher environment here. It will be a challenge to prevent the spread of it."