The experience caught Miltonians by surprise as it was drastically different than what had played out in other Halton and GTA clinics in previous days.

“I thought I was going to be outside for seven hours,” said Bob Stimson, a Campbellville resident who brought his teenage son, J. J., to the clinic in the mid-afternoon.

J. J., who has asthma, got his H1N1 flu shot in 20 minutes – the majority of that time actually spent waiting after receiving the injection to ensure there were no allergic reactions. Stimson didn’t qualify to receive the injection as he’s not in one of the six priority groups to whom the Region is administering the vaccine.

“When they open it for the (general) public, I guess that’s when I’ll be stuck waiting four hours,” joked Stimson.

Due to a shortage of the H1N1 vaccine, Ontario’s Ministry of Health Friday directed public health units across the province to continue giving the injections exclusively to high priority recipients. It’s not yet known when the vaccines will be available for the general population.

The short wait times Monday in Milton were also seen in Georgetown, according to Halton Region’s website, www.halton.ca , which is now updating wait times at the four clinics across the region on a regular basis.

The Milton clinic, at New Life Church on Thompson Road south of Derry Road, opened more than an hour before its noon start time and had short line-ups throughout the day.

Health staff administered 1,415 injections in Milton Monday, and 5,921 at all four sites in Halton.

Greeters at the clinic have been handing out papers to people advising them the clinic is only for priority groups. They include people under age 65 with chronic medical conditions, pregnant women, healthy children from six months to under five years of age, some health-care workers, people living in remote and isolated settings, and caregivers and household contacts of people in a high priority group who can’t be immunized such as infants under six months of age or those who may not respond to vaccines.

Halton Region spokesperson Carleen Carroll attributed the shorter wait times in Milton to what she described as a great location.

“It’s got a lot of parking, it’s got good space, we’ve got the staffing resources that we need.”

The Milton clinic is scheduled to run daily from noon to 8 p. m. until Friday but residents can check www.halton.ca or call 311 for updated information.

This is the second week Halton has been running H1N1 clinics. Last week, the Region had a clinic in both Oakville and Acton but it expanded the number to four starting Monday.

Prior to yesterday’s clinics, the Region had given out 24,125 doses of H1N1 vaccine. As well, doctors, hospitals and long-term care centres in Halton have received 19,875 doses.

Halton Region’s health department is hopeful it will have enough doses of the vaccine to continue this week’s clinics.

However, Halton Medical Officer of Health Dr. Bob Nosal said he doesn’t know if it will have vaccine for clinics next week.

Residents can call their local doctors to see if they are offering the vaccination.

Tim Foran can be reached at tforan@miltoncanadianchampion.com .