Developments Friday in the ongoing H1N1 pandemic in Canada and around the world:
Amid public demand for H1N1 shots that's growing at an exponential rate, Ottawa is telling vaccine-hungry provinces to expect only a fraction of what they were hoping to get.
Vaccine maker GlaxoSmithKline will deliver just over 400,000 doses of the vaccine next week, about a fifth of the two million doses produced during each of the past three weeks, says Dr. David Butler-Jones, Canada's chief public health officer.
The dwindling supply is in part the result of the manufacturer's need to switch production from adjuvanted vaccine, which contains a compound to boost its effectiveness, to one that contains no adjuvants.
About 200,000 additional doses of unadjuvanted vaccine are expected to come in from outside Canada.
In the wake of the announced slowdown in vaccine delivery, some provinces have adjusted their plans:
-In Prince Edward, plans to vaccinate children for swine flu have been put on hold. It could be mid-week to late next week before the elementary school vaccination process gets underway.
-In Nova Scotia, health officials decided to restrict access to swine flu shots next week to only those needing it the most.
-In New Brunswick, a shortage of swine flu vaccine forced health officials to cancel some public clinics and impose new rules limiting the shots to priority groups.
-In Ontario, the province's top health officer has called on healthy people to stay away from H1N1 clinics for the time being, and to keep the lines open for priority groups, including children under five, pregnant women and people with certain pre-existing health conditions.
-In Manitoba, some mass vaccination clinics may have to be postponed, said Dr. Joel Kettner, the province's medical officer of health.
-The Saskatchewan government said its H1N1 immunization roll-out will continue as planned next week, but future plans are being re-evaluated.
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Five schools in southwest New Brunswick closed Friday with swine flu as the likely cause. Provincial officials say the schools closed because of a shortage of staff. An official with the provinces Education Department says its likely that at least of some of those who are sick have swine flu.
The H1N1 virus has also forced the closure of schools in Vancouver and Conne River, Newfoundland.
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Quebec has begun demanding identification before doling out H1N1 vaccinations after a chaotic scene at one injection site that was flooded with out-of-towners and low-priority patients.
People at vaccination sites in some regions will now have to provide proof of residence before getting their shot.
The appeal comes after health officials were overwhelmed this week at the first vaccination site opened near Montreal, at an old car dealership in the small town of St-Eustache.
A number of Montrealers made the 30-kilometre trip to get their shots because the local health unit began inoculations earlier there.
About 2,000 people showed up Thursday to get vaccinated against H1N1 - even though there were only 800 doses available.
Vaccinations on the island of Montreal don't start until Monday.
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Alberta's top health officials say they won't make any immediate changes to the way the province is rolling out swine flu vaccinations, despite public anger at long lines and a looming shortage of vaccine.
Dr. Andre Corriveau, the province's chief medical officer of health, says while they're still focusing on giving the shot to high-risk groups, health-care workers won't refuse to vaccinate anyone.
Dr. Gerry Predy, chief medical officer of health for Alberta Health Services, says screening people in lineups to make sure they're in high-risk groups would require too much staff and would slow things down.
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The World Health Organization says pregnant women can get immunized against swine flu using the same vaccine as the general population.
An expert committee advising the WHO released a report saying vaccine that contain adjuvants - or compounds that boost the responsiveness of the immune system - are just as safe as vaccines that don't contain the additive.
The committee said pregnant women should therefrore feel free to use adjuvanted vaccine, advice that flies in the face of common perceptions that the non-adjuvanted shot was more appropriate.
The latest findings are expected to help stretch limited global vaccine supplies. The committee also said single doses of the vaccine should be safe for very young children, a recommendation that could change the way the shots are administered to that age group in Canada.
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The World Health Organization is sending a team of experts to Ukraine to look into reports of severe H1N1 disease there, a spokesperson for the global health agency said Friday.
Gregory Hartl said the team was being pulled together by the WHO's Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network, which goes by the acronym GOARN.
The team will travel early next week to the eastern European country, which has closed schools and banned public meetings in response to a spike in cases of acute respiratory illness believed to be H1N1.
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Concerns about swine flu have forced a Newfoundland children's choir to cancel a performance for the visiting royal couple.
Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall were supposed to hear the Se'ta'newey Performance Choir sing Monday when they arrive in St. John's to begin their 11-day tour.
But after several local children started showing flu-like symptoms, the choir was forced to pull out.
It's not the first disappointment in recent days for the singers, who have been embroiled in controversy over a disputed invitation to perform at the 2010 Winter Games.
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Medical officials in Germany say a person with no previous medical conditions has died of swine flu.
Officials at Bonn's University Hospital said the victim was a 48-year-old woman. The virus also claimed the life of a five-year-old with a severe pulmonary infection, bringing the country's total swine flu death toll up to five.
