Faced with the resurgence of the H1N1 influenza virus, Ottawa has fast-tracked a vaccination program for pregnant women, signalling an urgency to safeguard at-risk Canadians in the coming weeks.

Federal health officials have spent $2.55-million on an emergency order of 200,000 doses of a vaccine intended for pregnant women. The order, from Australian pharmaceutical company CSL Ltd., is expected to be delivered to provinces and territories next week, allowing officials an early start in vaccinating expectant mothers, who are among the high-risk groups.

While pregnant women are not more likely to get sick, they are more at risk of developing complications if they do fall ill.

Coast to coast, the first groups of Canadians queued to get the H1N1 shot Monday, the first day of the country's unprecedented vaccination program. Provincial strategies vary, but most jurisdictions are phasing in programs as stocks of the vaccine continue to roll in from GlaxoSmithKline, Canada's vaccine supplier.

On Monday, most programs focused on health-care workers and groups that are more likely to develop complications, such as people with chronic health conditions, young children, and those living in remote communities, including native reserves.

Healthy Canadians are being asked to hold off for at least two weeks, until priority groups receive their shots. But the flu virus has been known to disproportionally affect healthy young people. On Saturday an otherwise healthy Ottawa preteen girl died, with officials saying the H1N1 virus was a likely cause.

On Monday, Evan Frustaglio, a 13-year-old Toronto hockey player who friends say had no underlying health issues, was found dead in his bed. He'd started showing symptoms only a few days earlier.

Few problems were reported at vaccination sites Monday, although lines in Alberta were long, prompting officials to extend operating hours, and the opposition Liberals to call on the province to open more centres. In Vancouver, officials focused on at-risk groups, including residents of the notorious Downtown Eastside, where prevalent health problems are thought to raise the threat of an H1N1 outbreak.

Canada has bought 50 million doses of vaccine from GSK containing adjuvants, chemical products that boost the immune response. While there is no clinical data about the effect of the additive on expectant mothers, health officials decided in September to buy vaccine without them as an option for this group.

However, the 1.8-million unadjuvanted doses from GSK won't be ready until the second week of November. With the flu in its second wave and spreading across the country, federal health officials made the emergency purchase of unadjuvanted vaccine from Australia.

"While the order [that] is being produced ... in Canada is still on target for delivery in early November, we felt that, given the increase in cases of the H1N1 flu virus across the country, it was prudent to offer pregnant women earlier access to the unadjuvanted vaccine," Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq said in a conference call.

One week ago, Ms. Aglukkaq denounced talk of a delay between the rollout of the adjuvanted and unadjuvanted vaccines as "a lot of speculation." Now acknowledging the delay, chief public health officer David Butler-Jones said the Australian order will "close that gap" until Canada's primary order is ready.

"By having the CSL option, it means that we're able to start using that vaccine next week rather than the following [week]," he said.

The unadjuvanted vaccine will be available in all provinces and territories to pregnant women.

But federal health officials said women more than 20 weeks pregnant or in earlier stages of pregnancy with underlying health conditions should consider getting the adjuvanted vaccine if the unadjuvanted version is not available and the rate of disease in their area is high.

The vaccine without adjuvants was also supposed to be made available to young children. But public health officials say the adjuvanted vaccine has proven to produce more immunity.

"We're confident in the adjuvanted vaccine," Dr. Butler-Jones said.

Vaccination clinics drew long lineups in some provinces, particularly Alberta, where vaccinations were intended for at-risk groups, but officials pledged that anyone who showed up would receive the shot containing the adjuvant.

Waits in Calgary reached six hours at four clinics, while in Edmonton, the wait topped four hours at the city's five clinics. In the first six hours, 4,000 people were given the vaccine in Calgary. Officials had to cut off the lineup at 5 p.m., and anticipated finishing for the day at 11 p.m., three hours later than planned.

Health Minister Ron Liepert urged people to be patient.

"Every Albertan who wants to receive the vaccine will receive it. They just may not receive it on the first hour of the first day," he said.