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Hospitalizations, intensive-care admissions and deaths due to the H1N1 virus are three times higher in the last week of October over the previous week as a second wave of the pandemic disease moves across the country, federal health officials say.

The latest death was a two-month-old baby boy in London, Ont., who died Monday from symptoms of the H1N1 virus.

Canada's chief public health officer, David Butler-Jones, said today that while there will be more illness and deaths in the coming weeks, getting vaccinated will help slow the spread of the virus.

“So those who are suggesting we're over the worst of it, ... until people are either immunized or become ill this could go on and will go on for several months yet,” Dr. Butler-Jones told reporters in a conference call. “There's still an opportunity to get ahead of a lot of preventable infection both with the measures that we're talked about as well as appropriate treatment as well as getting the vaccine when it's time to do so.”

He said the H1N1 virus is moving across the country, but the western provinces, the territories and Newfoundland and Labrador have been hit particularly hard.

The number of hospitalized cases increased to roughly 600 in the week of Oct. 25 from 175 the previous week, and more than 90 people had been admitted to intensive-care units compared with 39 people in the previous week.

By the end of the week, 6.5 million doses of vaccine will be in circulation, with at least 1.8 million to come next week, according to federal officials.

The federal government has purchased 50 million doses of vaccine for all Canadians who need and want it.

But in the early days of Canada's largest vaccination campaign, there have been problems.

GlaxoSmithKline, which has the sole contract to supply Canada's flu vaccine, told the federal government last Thursday that it will ship 436,000 doses to provinces and territories this week, far less than the roughly two million anticipated, because it had to interrupt production at its Ste-Foy, Que., plant to make a version of the vaccine for pregnant women.

At the same time, the deaths of young children from H1N1 prompted people to line up for hours to get the shot or jump the queue, despite many not being in the priority groups. The shortage of vaccine resulted in immunization clinics temporarily shutting their doors or turning away people.

But many local health authorities report that the crowds have grown smaller, as more people respect the priority list and allow those who are most vulnerable to get their shots first. The most vulnerable are those who are likely to suffer complications if they get sick, and include pregnant women, young children and people with underlying health conditions.

Public health officials have asked people to be patient. Federal health officials say all who want to be immunized should be able to receive the shot before Christmas.