Health Minister Deb Matthews professed her outrage over queue-jumping by some professional athletes but was vague on whether she would take any action.

"I can tell you that I am outraged by that. It's not okay," she told an impromptu news conference at Metro Hall on Thursday.

"I don't care who you are. I don't care how famous you are. I don't care how wealthy you are -- wait your turn to get the vaccine."

In Alberta, a senior employee with Alberta Health Services was fired after it became known that members of the Calgary Flames hockey club got vaccinated last week.

"I am looking into what happened and we will look at what options are available to use," Matthews said.

She said her ministry has "reinforced messages about who is eligible for the vaccine and who is going to have to wait."

The government expects flu-shot providers to respect Ontario's priority list, but there don't seem to be any hard rules that forces them to comply, she acknowledged.

"When it comes to the queue jumpers, that's one of the questions that I'm exploring right now," Matthews said.

The focus is to vaccinate people who are at the highest risk of complications, she said. Those groups have been identified as the following:

• people with chronic medical conditions under the age of 65
• children from six months to less than five years old
• household contacts and care providers of persons at high risk who cannot be immunized or may not respond to vaccines
• health care workers
• pregnant women
• people living in remote areas

"If you are not part of that high-priority group, please wait your turn," Matthews said.

Health experts say the people in the above groups are at the highest risk of serious complications if they become infected with the virus. The risk of exposure to the virus doesn't figure into the priority group's composition.

The province has 2.2 million doses, but there are 3.4 million people in the high-priority groups.

The Leafs said Wednesday that its medical staff obtained the vaccine through "normal distribution channels" and no preferential treatment was sought or received.

"While all professional athletes are considered high risk to exposure and the transmission of the flu due to excessive contact with other players, heavy travel requirements and public exposure, only certain players and staff have received it the H1N1 vaccine," the Raptors said in a statement emailed to the Toronto Star.

"Consistent with other medical information or cases, this information is considered private and confidential."

Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment -- the parent organization of both clubs -- won't say how many players got the shot or whether there were underlying health complications.

Some Leafs players said they just took the advice of their doctors while another held the view that players might be at a higher risk than the general population.

Flu activity

Dr. Arlene King, the province's chief medical officer of health, said flu activity is still on the rise in Ontario, albeit not evenly, but the health system is quite capable of coping.

There are 120 people currently in hospital. Sixty-five of those are intensive care, which is unchanged, she said.

There are 124 flu clinics across Ontario. Some, such as Toronto, are expanding their hours of operation.

"As a result, access is much improved," King said.

To alleviate pressure on hospitals and doctors' offices, 41 flu assessment centres are now operating, with eight more coming, she said.

Next week, the federal government has said there will be one million doses of regular vaccine and 980,000 of the unadjuvanted vaccine, suitable for women fewer than 20 weeks pregnant, next week. King said Ontario will find out its share on Friday.

She hinted that when the vaccine supply improves, children between the ages of five and 18 will be added to the priority list before the vaccine is made available to the general public.

With a report from CTV Toronto's Paul Bliss and files from The Canadian Press