Halifax pub patrons surprised by flu clinic workers offering shots

HALIFAX - The shots were on the house at a pub in Halifax on Saturday.
H1N1 vaccine shots, that is.
Patrons of Gus's Pub were taken aback when volunteers from a nearby vaccination clinic stopped by at about 6 p.m. to drum up business.
"They went around to the tables and asked people if they wanted a shot," said a pub co-owner who didn't want to give her name.
"A couple of people said yes, a girl and another fellow."
The woman wasn't impressed.
"It's not very nice," she said. "There are doctors, clinics, hospitals. People come here to have a drink and have fun."
A spokeswoman for the Capital District Health Authority said Tuesday it's not common practice for clinics to canvass the neighbourhood.
"We generally do this through the media when a particular clinic is slow," Margaret Angus said. "The clinic co-ordinators thought it was an opportunity for people in priority groups to know there was an opportunity."
Only certain groups, such as children under five and their caretakers, health-care workers and people under 65 with chronic health conditions, can receive the vaccine at community clinics and some doctors' offices.
Activity has slowed down throughout the province compared to the long lineups that formed at the first clinics last month.
A small amount of vaccine, which has a short shelf life, has had to be thrown out.
The multi-shot vials of adjuvanted vaccine, which has an immune system booster, must be used within 24 hours after they're opened.
Opened vials of unadjuvanted vaccine, which doesn't have the booster, last 28 hours under refrigeration.
Nova Scotia has received about 202,000 doses of the adjuvanted vaccine and it's expected 54,600 more doses will arrive Monday.
The province has a stockpile of 28,600 doses of unadjuvanted vaccine.
This vaccine is available to pregnant women and people between 10 and 64 who have a chronic illness but are otherwise healthy.