There was a line-up of about 20 people at Xavier Junior High School before doors opened at noon Wednesday, ready for the start of the administration of the H1N1 vaccine.

Kim Ball was first in line. She said she drove by at around 8:30 a.m., prepared to get in line if one had already formed. She didn’t end up getting in line until a little after 11 a.m., she said.

“The problem is having to wait outside no matter how long you have to wait, whether it be 10 minutes or three hours. It doesn’t matter,” said Ball.

The day was cool with sporadic showers throughout the day and evening, causing discomfort to those waiting for the doors to open.

“These are people with chronic illnesses. It’s ridiculous. The waiting area should be indoors. Maybe even use the stadium as a better position to put this setup. People would at least be indoors and not having to freeze their butts off,” she said.

By 4 p.m., the clinic had seen about 70 people and were expecting more of a rush after the end of the workday.

Red Wings afflicted
Even though the vaccine has made its way to Deer Lake, coughs, colds and all manner of flu symptoms have crept into the community, and onto the ice. It was announced Wednesday that the Deer Lake Red Wings will not be playing at home or in Grand Falls-Windsor this weekend due to much of the team having flu-like symptoms.

“As it stands right now, the Deer Lake Red Wings cannot ice a hockey team this weekend due to the outbreak of the H1N1 virus,” Red Wings general manager Andy Brake said Wednesday afternoon. “We had a few guys that were sick around everyone last weekend and from there it looks like approximately 80 to 90 per cent of the hockey team now have contracted the virus,”

“Most of our players are in bed today. We’d have to take a weekend off to get this thing resolved, shut this thing down. It’ll just continue to feed if we continue to play,” he said.

Brake said the team does not have enough bodies to play hockey this weekend, however, Brake discovered late Wednesday night that the West Coast Senior Hockey League brass is forcing his team to play.