SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - A continuous stream of Yellowknifers flowed into the Multiplex last week for their flu shots as NWT health officials organized a mass vaccination campaign, which lasted Monday through to Saturday.

"We hit the ground running," said Dr. Kami Kandola, chief public health officer for the NWT.

Kandola said about 18,000 out of 43,000 people in the territory were vaccinated in the first week.

While vaccinations went smoothly in the NWT, media were reporting people in Toronto waited upwards of six hours for their vaccinations on Monday. Kandola said the NWT was better prepared because the territory received its full order of the H1N1 flu vaccine from Health Canada before immunizations began.

"The three territories were considered priority because we're remote and isolated, we have many fly-in communities that don't have either a registered nurse or anyone," said Kandola.

The NWT received 34,000 doses, which covers about 75 per cent of the population.

The vaccine is still available for those who didn't get it last week, and can be taken between 3:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, at the Yellowknife Health and Social Services Authority public health clinic in the Jan Stirling building.

"Although we started our flu shot program on Monday, we were still experiencing widespread activity of the flu," said Kandola.

Kandola said that the number of H1N1 hospitalizations is up to 40 as of Monday, five of which are in the intensive care unit at Stanton Territorial Hospital.

Twenty-six of 33 communities in the NWT have reported H1N1 cases, Kandola said.

Kandola said it takes up to 10 days to develop protection against the flu after the vaccination has been received.

"We're thinking, as we vaccinate more and more people, we'll start to see a decrease in activity," said Kandola.

Starting this year, both the Yk1 and Yellowknife Catholic Schools districts have been keeping a close eye on absenteeism in their schools, watching for changes in patterns that might suggest a spread of H1N1.

"I don't really have anything to compare to, because this is the first year that we're really tracking attendance with all schools, but we do notice that attendance at some of the schools has dropped quite a bit," said Tram Do, director of corporate services with Yk1.

"We're aware of it, we're on top of it - senior management meets whenever a school goes over 20 per cent," said Do.

Do said that, so far, only Sir John Franklin High School has gone over the 20 per cent absenteeism mark, as well as William McDonald School which has hovered around the 20 per cent line.

She said staff and students are encouraged to stay home if they feel sick, to prevent the spread of the flu.

"We're planning to be open, business as usual, and we've been proactive in taking measures to ensure we have enough staff coverage when regular staff are off sick, by putting out ads for substitute teachers and casual staff," said Do.

She added that cleaning at schools has been stepped up, with a priority on "frequently touched surfaces," as well as distribution of hand sanitizers throughout classrooms.

Pat Sullivan, co-ordinator of student services at Yellowknife Catholic Schools, said no discouraging patterns have emerged in their district.

"We're watching for patterns, and increases in patterns. We have the schools forward their attendance on a daily basis to central services, and chart it here," said Sullivan.

"We've had a couple of days where the percentages are a little higher than normal, but generally speaking, no, we're not noticing anything to be alarmed with in any way."