Prince George, B.C.-  The World Health Organization has declared the H1N1 flu a pandemic, but B.C.’s   Health Officer, Dr. Perry Kendall says that is a reflection of the geographic spread of the illness and not because it has become more severe.

Dr. Kendall says B.C. will stay the course on the way it has been handling cases of H1N1 flu. He says two vaccines will be available this fall, one in September for the normal expected two strains of flu, then   sometime before Christmas (when it is developed) the H1N1 vaccine will be available.

Dr. Kendall says there will be enough H1N1 vaccine made so that, if necessary, every person in Canada could be vaccinated. The province has also ordered an extra 300 thousand doses of the normal flu vaccine.

He says B.C. has been acting as if this was a pandemic since day one “So we are not acting any different today than we did yesterday. We have been taking precautions and watching this very closely for six weeks.”   He says it has shown itself to be no more than a moderate to heavy flu for most people, and was more severe for those who had underlying health issues.

There have been 151 confirmed cases of H1N1 flu in B.C. including 28 in Northern Health. Dr. Kendall says while some health authorities have been “stretched” the number of cases did not pose an undo burden on Health authorities  and  most cases did not need hospitalization at all.