While public health units across the country are facing severe shortages of the swine flu vaccine and long lineups, a private clinic in the city is offering its members the shot, so long as long as they're deemed to be in a high-risk group.

The office of Medcan Clinic, on York St. in Toronto's financial district, has received a shipment of the H1N1 vaccine from Toronto Public Health. It's available to the clinic's clientele for free, provided they're found to be in one of the high-risk groups who are being immunized first.

However, to be added to the clinic's list of 13,000 clients requires undergoing a "comprehensive assessment." That costs $2,300 and is not covered by OHIP.

If new clients are deemed to be in the high-risk group, they can then be immunized without waiting in line. They even receive valet parking.

Medcan has been instructed to provide information to public health officials proving that it's immunizing high-risk clients only. Otherwise the clinic risk having its supply of the vaccine confiscated.

By contrast, the wait at public health units across the city reached six hours in some instances on Friday.

And local health officials have said Toronto is facing a severe shortage of the swine flu vaccine because the manufacturer, GlaxoSmithKline, has temporarily shifted to producing unadjuvanted vaccine for women who have been pregnant for fewer than 20 weeks.

Originally, 720,000 doses of the vaccine were to be shipped to Ontario next week. Now the province has been told to expect 170,000 doses.

As a result, the immunizations will be restricted to the following groups through to the weekend of Nov. 8:

  • pregnant women
  • children between six months and five years of age
  • people under age 65 with chronic conditions
  • caregivers
  • health-care workers

Health officials are also warning that they do not know how many doses the city will receive in coming weeks.

"Our clinics and our ability to give vaccine to doctors' offices and hospitals the week of Nov. 9 will be very much less than anticipated," Dr. David McKeown, Toronto's medical officer of health, said on Friday.

With a report from CTV Toronto's Austin Delaney