As B.C. residents continued to line up for flu vaccinations, provincial health officials announced Tuesday that three more people had died from the H1N1 virus in the past week, bringing the total number of deaths to 12.

Of the new fatalities, two were in the Fraser Health region and one was in the Interior Health region.

The BC Centre for Disease Control said all but one of the victims, a 26-year-old mother from Mission, had underlying health conditions.

The centre reported 88 new cases of H1N1 in the province since Oct. 20, although the majority were considered mild or moderate.

The province, which is in the midst of what officials have deemed a "second wave" of the H1N1 pandemic, announced it will now include only severe H1N1 cases in its weekly report.

Staged rollout

A staged rollout of the H1N1 vaccine began Monday, with priority given to pregnant women, people under 65 with chronic health conditions, and people in remote communities, including First Nations and the homeless.

Lineups continued to be long at many Vancouver-area clinics.

And the death of a 13-year-old boy in Ontario led to heightened concerns among parents.

"It's very busy, yes, probably busier than our expectations," said Diane Bissenden of Vancouver Coastal Health. "Because this is our first week with the H1N1 vaccine campaign roll out, we're just learning about how we put our processes together and, you know, operationalize the campaign which we will have running over the next couple of weeks."

B.C.'s chief medical health officer urged people to be patient.

"We are asking people who are not in the high-risk categories to stay back and let people who can benefit from it most come forward," Dr. Perry Kendall said.

Canada has ordered more than 50 million doses of the H1N1 vaccine, which will be doled out on a priority basis. It will be available to the general public by mid-November.

Fraser Valley

In the Fraser Valley, one mother told CTV News Tuesday that she was having a frustrating time getting a shot for her son, who was born with a hole in his heart and is deemed high-risk.

"I live out in Port Moody, and I've called the public health clinic several times and they have no information on when they're going to have a flu clinic, but they directed me to my doctor," Debra Sauve said.

But she said her doctor's office told her they were out of the vaccine.

Sauve said she wants to know why, unlike Vancouver, Fraser Health has not held public clinics.

Dr. Roland Guasparini, the chief medical officer, said the problem with public clinics is people can't be screened for chronic conditions.

"So really, unless they're pregnant, you can't tell if they have diabetes or asthma, so basically, you're left with giving it to anyone," he said. "By supplying it through physicians' offices, then we ensure that the physicians are giving it to those who really need it in this first week."

But will it get to them fast enough?

"It's getting to them as fast as we have vaccine able to give them," he said.

Fraser Health expects to receive 70,000 more doses of the vaccine by week's end.

The B.C. government has set up a website with more information about H1N1, including ways to check for symptoms, at www.healthlinkbc.ca

With reports from CTV British Columbia's Leah Hendry, Jina You and Michele Brunoro