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British Columbia's top health official says an Abbotsford doctor who vaccinated professional hockey players against the H1N1 virus this week broke the rules but will face no repercussions.

Perry Kendall, the provincial health officer, promised to talk to the physician for the Abbotsford Heat hockey team to explain that the shortage of vaccine means the 22 athletes should not have jumped the queue.

The AHL farm team for the Calgary Flames had returned from a road trip with five members showing flu-like symptoms, Dr. Adriaan Windt said in an interview earlier in the day. He decided the rest of the team were “at high risk of getting the disease,” so he instructed them to go to the physicians' clinic where he practices to get the vaccine.

That shouldn't have happened, Dr. Kendall said.

“I'd like to be clear there has been no authorization given by me or any of British Columbia's health authorities for any professional sports team to receive early access to H1N1 vaccine,” Dr. Kendall told reporters in Victoria.

While Dr. Windt will earn a lecture for his actions, an Alberta health-care worker who allowed the Calgary Flames hockey team and players' families to privately receive H1N1 vaccinations last week was fired yesterday.

The issue of queue-jumping dominated yesterday's medical update on the H1N1 pandemic in B.C. Dr. Kendall acknowledged the issue has inflamed emotions as most British Columbians are being asked to stand back and wait for high-risk individuals to get vaccinated first.

“I would love to say it was Alberta vaccine by a rogue Edmonton physician, but I don't think I can say that,” Dr. Kendall said of the Abbotsford Heat incident.

But he said it is not something that the College of Physicians and Surgeons can deal with because eligibility for the vaccine is enshrined in guidelines, not law. He said if a doctor persistently flouted the guidelines, he would take it up with the College.

“But if it was one physician, once, and they didn't do it again, I would think it was a mistake of judgment,” he said.

Under B.C.'s vaccination protocol, the only people who should be getting the H1N1 vaccine right now are people under 65 with chronic health conditions, those who live in remote and isolated communities, children six months to five years of age, pregnant women, the caregivers of infants to six months of age and people with compromised immune systems. Some front-line health workers are also being offered the vaccine.

Dr. Windt said doctors should be able to interpret the guidelines to decide who is eligible.

“I haven't sent anyone away that requested the immunization. I am sure you know the guidelines well but as a physician I have to make an assessment on a case-by-case basis,” he said.

Dr. Windt said the hockey players had to wait with everyone else who came to the walk-in clinic where he practices for a shot on Monday and Tuesday. However, the clinic had 160 doses of the vaccine on hand on Monday, and still had not run out on Wednesday.

The dispute over who should be getting to the front of the line spilled over into the political arena yesterday as well. The opposition New Democrats questioned why some front-line health-care workers can't get immunized against the H1N1 virus.

Elizabeth Grant is a paramedic with the Child-Maternal Critical Care Team, based out of B.C. Children's and Women's Hospital. Since Monday she has been eligible for the flu shot but she hasn't been able to get the vaccine.

“I've been turned away repeatedly,” she said. “I'm not worried about getting the flu myself, but I don't want to give it to my patients who are all, by definition, high risk.”