CALGARY – As Alberta’s health minister faced calls for his resignation Sunday, the province’s top doctor took responsibility for the H1N1 immunization plan that has left Calgarians angry, frustrated and confused over long lineups to get the vaccine, and now the closure of the clinics that were administering it.Dr. Andre Corriveau said it was his decision to initially open clinics to all Albertans last Monday, close them Saturday and not reopen them until at least Tuesday. When they do reopen, the vaccine will initially be restricted to those in high-risk groups, including pregnant women, kids under six and those under 65 with chronic health conditions.

His comments come as Health Minister Ron Liepert faces further criticism over the pandemic planning, and a call by the official Opposition for his head.But Liepert rejected Liberal Leader David Swann’s demand for his resignation, saying he was and is still following the advice of the province’s medical experts, who decided to stop offering the vaccine to the general public when it became clear the demand for the vaccine would outstrip a supply that is now expected to fall short.Inoculation clinics will remain closed until at least Tuesday as health officials figure out how to deliver vaccines specifically to those in the target groups.

“We have followed right from Day 1 the plan that was laid out by the chief medical officer of health and public health officials throughout the province,” Liepert told reporters during a conference call on Sunday.

“I want to make it clear, I’m not trying to shift responsibility for this decision. What I’m saying is, they are the chief medical experts so it would be inappropriate for us politically to change that,” added Liepert.On Sunday, Liberal Leader David Swann called for Liepert to resign, saying the Tory health minister couldn’t be trusted to manage our health-care system–a system Swann accused Liepert of throwing into chaos.”It is clearly over his head,” said Swann during a news conference in front of the closed Richmond Diagnostic Treatment Centre, where people continued to turn up on Sunday in search of a vaccination.

Swann said Alberta’s pandemic plan outlines a commitment to vaccinate high-risk individuals first, but that was ignored when it was announced no one would be turned away from getting a swine flu shot.Indeed, Albertans seem to have received mixed messages since the clinics opened early last week.Both Liepert and Premier Ed Stelmach, while urging those at high-risk to get inoculated first, also emphasized that no one would be turned away. Liepert even went so far as to say that Alberta would not go into “Soviet Union mode” and require people to prove they need it, but then had to backtrack as the clinics were halted in the face of an unexpected supply shortage.

On Sunday, he admitted, “Voluntary compliance did not work.”As the H1N1 flu vaccination chaos and subsequent blame game continued with Swann’s calls for Liepert to resign, Alberta’s chief medical officer stepped into the fray. Dr. Corriveau stood behind the initial rollout and now the need to change plans and restrict the vaccination to those who most need it.Corriveau said health officials didn’t anticipate the overwhelming numbers of people who turned up at the clinics. That was then complicated by the news later in the week that Alberta would only receive an additional 80,000 doses, compared to the 220,000 that were expected.

“I want to make it clear that these decisions were made by us, public health officials and I take full responsibility for any of those decisions,” said Corriveau, who participated in the conference call with Liepert Sunday.”I myself made them in consultation with Alberta Health Services . . .,” said Corriveau, referring to the new health superboard that’s responsible for the actual execution of the plan.But Corriveau wore the blame alone; no one from Alberta Health Services, the new superboard charged with the actual execution of the flu clinics, participated in the news conference.Liepert, meantime, said mistake is not a word that he’ll accept in reference to the inoculation program.

“I’m not going to accept the word mistake when today, the most recent numbers . . . show that over 400,000 Albertans have been immunized.”

As for his resignation, Liepert reiterated the vaccination plan wasn’t his, but rather developed by doctors–a fraternity to which Swann belongs as a physician himself.”He is obviously challenging the credibility of our chief medical officers of health, and . . . I find that a little offensive,” said Liepert.”It’s great to be a Monday morning quarterback. But if he’s challenging Dr. Corriveau’s plan, he should say so. Unless he’s got some other reasons for me to resign, I don’t know what they might be.”

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