Updated: Wed Nov. 04 2009 20:22:43

ctvbc.ca

B.C.'s chief medical health officer said Wednesday that a physician did not comply with provincial guidelines when he arranged for most of the players of an Abbotsford hockey team to get H1N1 flu vaccinations.

"That was clearly outside the province's guidelines for a publicly funded vaccine program. I'm prepared to deal with this on an individual basis with the physician," Dr. Perry Kendall told reporters Wednesday.

Currently, those eligible for H1N1 vaccinations in B.C. are pregnant women, those 65 and under with chronic medical conditions, people in remote communities, children between the ages of six months and five years old, and critical care workers.

Yet the team doctor for the Abbotsford Heat, the farm team for the Calgary Flames, recently arranged vaccinations for 22 of the team's 27 players at the physician's clinic, the West Oaks Medical Centre in Abbotsford.

The doctor deemed that five players didn't need shots because they were already sick.

Team spokesman Dave Sheldon defended the doctor's actions.

"They went to a public facility, waited in the line like everyone else did and got their shots taken," he said at the team's practice.

Sheldon said the team relied on the advice of the physician, who assessed whether each player was high-risk or not.

"If you look at a high-risk player or you look at a high-risk situation like our players are in, they are involved with the general public, we go to schools and community events, we high-five kids coming off the ice, we're in airports, there's physical contact in the sport. These are things that determine whether or not a person is high risk," Sheldon said. "Our club physician is - that's his discretion. He assesses what is high risk what is low risk."

But Kendall said neither he nor any other medical officer gave this doctor or any other doctor authorization to give shots to professional athletes.

The team physician, Dr. Adriaan Windt, could not be reached at the clinic or by phone, but a colleague said they could not speak because of confidentiality reasons.

Earlier this week, the Calgary Flames and their families received H1N1 shots at a private clinic.

An Alberta Health Services employee was subsequently fired over that decision.

With a report from CTV British Columbia's Leah Hendry