The Victoria Police Department is investigating a case of someone trying to sell a vial of the H1N1 vaccine on the Internet, says B.C.'s medical health officer.
Dr. Perry Kendall said Monday the seller claimed to be a public health nurse who would sell the vaccine to the highest bidder.
But Kendall said he believes the posting was a scam that smears the nursing profession.
"No one, especially a person who has the bad taste to pose as a nurse, should be offering healthy people the option of seeking preferential treatment and jumping a queue," he said. "Nor should they be seeking monetary benefits by openly running counter to the rules that the rest of the public health system is following. This is unacceptable."
Kendall said the ad was pulled off the Internet Monday morning after the Vancouver Island Health Authority contacted police.
B.C. is currently offering the H1N1 shot to pregnant women but other priority groups, including children between the ages of six months and five years, will have to wait until next week after the province receives more of the vaccine.
Doctors' offices have cancelled appointments this week for children who were to get inoculated, and Kendall said people who are not at high risk to contract the virus may be able to get a shot by the end of next week.
First responders, including firefighters and police, will receive the vaccine before other healthy people, he said.
About five people in B.C. have had allergic reactions to the vaccine, but that's not unexpected, Kendall said.
Reactions have ranged from swelling or tingling of the tongue to shortness of breath.
"All of them were transported to the emergency room but nobody was admitted."
Kendall said one in 100,000 people get such a reaction from the seasonal flu vaccine.
