BEAUFORT DELTA - Most people in the Beaufort Delta region have already been vaccinated against the H1N1 virus with no reported serious side effects, according to the Beaufort Delta Health and Social Services Authority.

Concerns about the territory's vaccination schedule were brought up in the legislative assembly at the end of October. Nunakput MLA Jackie Jacobson asked why communities in his riding weren't scheduled to receive the vaccine until mid November.

"My riding, Nunakput, is the most northern riding in the Northwest Territories. That should've been priority one. Because we live in the harshest environment, weather changes, people get a lot sicker sooner than people in the south," Jacobson said in an interview.

The GNWT's initial plan was to send the supplies of the vaccine with teams of medical professionals to each community because of the vaccine's sensitivity to temperature. Doing so would have meant residents of some more isolated communities, such as Tuktoyaktuk, Sachs Harbour and Ulukhaktok, would have had to wait for the vaccine for up to three weeks after it arrived in Yellowknife.

But by Oct. 30, all eight Delta communities had received the vaccine and a week later the majority of residents had received the shot.

"The H1N1 vaccine arrived in Inuvik much earlier than the teams were set to come, so we hand-delivered it with staff to each community," said Joanne Engram, manager of hospital nursing and acting director for client services. "We didn't wait for the teams."

Fewer people from Tuk have received the vaccine compared to other communities in the region, with only 40 per cent of the population vaccinated. A team will travel to the community to help health centre staff run vaccination clinics as scheduled on Nov. 9 and 10.

Engram said hospital staff believe Tuk's vaccination numbers are low because residents are opting to stay home and avoid recent stormy weather.

"That's why we're going to send a team in there, because the weather's bad right now," she said. "But other than that, the other communities, we're not going to send a territory team in because they've done so much of the percentage of the population."

Health staff in each community are still giving out vaccines on a drop-in basis.