VANCOUVER -- The province's top doctor insists there's no shortage of the annual influenza vaccine, despite other health officials describing unprecedented demand and the inability of British Columbians to make an appointment for a shot.

The provincial government ordered two million flu shots for this season, 450,000 more than last year, to meet anticipated demand as it encouraged citizens to inoculate themselves against the flu and avoid putting a further strain on the healthcare system -- but pharmacies are largely sold out and many doctor's offices and are turning away even high-risk patients.

"In some places, the allotment that goes to pharmacies and physicians' offices has run through, they've used up their doses,” acknowledged provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry, who pointed out while demand is high people are also seeking a shot earlier in the flu season than they normally would. "We are not aware of a shortage of supply in the health authorities at the moment. We have over 1.5 million doses that are out there."

But accessing those doses hasn't been easy. On Tuesday, the Shoppers Drug Mart website only showed one location with available flu vaccines in Metro Vancouver and most of London Drugs' locations showed being fully booked or unavailable until the end of the month.

“Please be patient," said London Drugs general manager of pharmacies, Chris Chiew. "A lot of our staff are actually fielding a lot of calls because a lot of the public feel it’s our fault that there’s no vaccines in our stores. It’s not the case. There is actually vaccines available, we’re just taking it by appointment only. We can only do one every 10 minutes and there’s only so much time in the day.”

The president of the Doctors of BC is urging people to check with their family doctor or find a flu shot clinic organized by their local health authority, where there are still doses available; they are often walk-up or drive-through setups in parking lots for scheduled dates and times only.

"The demand this year is really unprecedented, as we keep saying so many other things are. We have delivered more than 90 per cent of the vaccines to the local vaccinators, to the pharmacists, to the public health officers, to the physicians out there and yet we’re still seeing ongoing demand,” said Dr. Kathleen Ross, who was inoculating patients herself at a drive-through clinic on Tuesday. "In Fraser Health, we have received and distributed more than 500,000 vaccines. There are orders from our prescribers for anywhere between 85 and 90,000 more vaccines that people are looking for.”

Dr. Ross pointed out that healthy people who aren't around high-risk people don't need to worry too much as the same things that keep us at low risk from COVID-19 (like hand washing, distancing, and masks) also prevent the spread of the flu. She is urging the elderly, children under five, those with health issues and anyone in close contact with such high-risk people to get immunized.

Health officials have been encouraging people to get a flu shot out of concern there could be a "twindemic" with both COVID-19 and influenza infections surging at the same time and overwhelming the healthcare system. In the southern hemisphere, however, they've had almost no cases because of soaring participation in flu shots and public health measures.

Dr. Henry said there are more flu shots arriving in the coming weeks and more will keep coming into December.

"We know how important it is right now," she said. "But we are not seeing shortages -- yet -- in the province. We are watching this very carefully and across the country, and we're getting as much vaccine as we possibly can.”