TORONTO - Canada is importing adjuvant-free H1N1 vaccine from Australia for pregnant women, hoping to be able to offer that product sooner than if it waits for unadjuvanted vaccine from Canada to make it through the licensing process.

Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq announced Monday she signed an interim order that will allow 200,000 doses of adjuvant-free vaccine made by CSL Ltd. to be used in this country.

The CSL vaccine should be available starting next week, said Dr. David Butler-Jones, head of the Public Health Agency of Canada.

"We have heard the concerns about pregnant women about having to wait for an unadjuvanted vaccine and we have been working very hard on providing it earlier, given they have always been considered a priority group," Aglukkaq said at a news conference in Ottawa.

The vaccine, for which Canada paid $2.55 million, was purchased from the Australian government, not the manufacturer, a government source told The Canadian Press.

With global supplies of vaccine still limited and with the United States experiencing significant delays in vaccine delivery, it might seem a bit of a coup that Canada was able to purchase vaccine at short notice. Manufacturers have all pre-sold their capacity, and new orders would, generally speaking, require the buyer to go to the back of the queue.

But Canadian officials started exploring alternate sources when it became apparent the unadjuvanted vaccine being made by Canada's manufacturer, GlaxoSmithKline, was going to come online several weeks after their adjuvanted product, the source said.

The Australian government agreed to the request for help, which came as that country was finishing flu season.

Clearing the vaccine for use here required the interim order because CSL doesn't currently have a licence to sell flu vaccine in Canada. The company product is licensed in Australia and the United States.

Pregnant women are at higher risk from flu viruses in general and this virus in particular. As a consequence, the World Health Organization has urged countries to put them near the front of the line for vaccination efforts.

The WHO has also recommended that because there are no studies on the use of adjuvanted vaccine in pregnant women, that countries should provide pregnant women with vaccine without adjuvants if that is an option.

Most of Canada's 50.4 million doses of H1N1 vaccine will contain an adjuvant, an additive that boosts the immune system's response to the vaccine. That vaccine, made by GSK at Ste-Foy, Que., was approved by Health Canada last week.

An order for unadjuvanted vaccine was placed after the main order, and that product requires a separate licence. Federal officials have said it should be available in the first half of November.

In the meantime, they don't want pregnant women to have to wait, especially those living in remote communities.

Butler-Jones said the logistical challenge of vaccinating in northern and remote settings was one of the drivers of the decision to buy the CSL vaccine. In those communities, vaccinators are flying, holding clinics and then moving on.

"It's particularly an issue in isolated and remote communities, where if you go in and you do your mass vaccine campaign, then women are going to wait and you're going to have to go back. So it makes sense to have it (available) as close as possible to the other vaccine," said Butler-Jones.

The Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada, which last week urged all its members to offer H1N1 vaccine to their pregnant patients, welcomed the purchase.

"For us, this is extremely good news," said Dr. Vyta Senikas, associate executive vice-president of the organization.

She said there is a lot of confusion around what the recommendations are for pregnant women, all of whom are urged to get vaccinated.

For those who are healthy and under 20 weeks gestation - essentially in the first trimester - the suggestion is that they wait to get adjuvant-free vaccine, Senikas said.

However, in some cases the risk-benefit ratio shifts, even in this early stage of pregnancy, she said.

If women have a chronic condition that puts them at higher risk from flu - or if they develop something like gestational diabetes during pregnancy - they should not wait, she said. They should get whichever vaccine is available.

Likewise women under 20 weeks who are living in places where there is a high degree of flu activity should not wait for unadjuvanted vaccine, she said.

"If you're over 20 weeks, that theoretical first trimester risk is gone. Whether it's adjuvanted or unadjuvanted, get the vaccine," Senikas said.