Michael Macdonald, THE CANADIAN PRESS

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HALIFAX, N.S. - The Nova Scotia Teachers Union is using flawed logic by suggesting the provincial government should order pregnant teachers to stay away from the classroom to prevent them from getting swine flu, the province's chief public health officer said Friday.

Dr. Robert Strang said the union simply "misunderstands" the risk associated with the spread of the H1N1 virus.

"With H1N1, the risk of being exposed is not unique to schools," he told a news conference.

Pregnant teachers are not at a higher risk of getting swine flu within a school so long as they continue to take precautions, including frequently washing their hands, he said.

"Pregnant (teachers) are just as likely to be exposed out in the community," Strang said, noting that the circulation of viruses is nothing new inside schools.

"If you followed the teachers' union logic, you would not have pregnant teachers in the schools from November to May every year."

Earlier this week, union president Alexis Allen called on Education Minister Marilyn More to send all pregnant teachers home to work with no loss of salary and benefits.

Allen said pregnant teachers should be kept out of the classroom until they get vaccinated and the vaccine has had time to take effect - a period of about 10 days.

"We have to protect our pregnant teachers from the very real possibility of contracting the H1N1 virus while at the workplace," Allen said in a statement.

"Pregnant teachers are in daily contact with the group with the highest risk of H1N1 infection - children under 15."

The union cited figures from the Public Health Agency of Canada that show 93 pregnant women in Canada have been hospitalized since the H1N1 outbreak, and four of them have died.

The union represents 10,900 public school teachers, community college faculty and support staff.

Meanwhile, Strang confirmed some groups in Nova Scotia have been getting swine flu vaccine this week even though they are not considered in a high-risk category.

Police and firefighters in the Halifax region received vaccinations this week, days after the rules were changed to limit the shots to certain high-risk groups.

The issue is a thorny one because there has been outrage across the country over allegations that some groups, including a number of sports teams, have jumped the queue.

In Alberta, a bureaucrat was fired and Alberta Health Services apologized after members of the Calgary Flames were given swine flu shots at a special clinic last Friday as thousands of people waited in line for the vaccine or were turned away.

But Strang stressed that no rules have been broken in Nova Scotia.

Last week, the province's district health authorities delivered vaccine to groups that can provide mass vaccinations to their staff, such as police and fire departments.

Strang said the vaccinations continued this week because the province can't take back vaccine without compromising quality control.

"It's far better to just use the vaccine, even though they're not in our priority groups, than just have it sitting in a fridge," he told a news conference Friday.

"Once the vaccine leaves our hands, it's somebody else's responsibility."

Strang said it was too early to determine when the general public will be offered the vaccine.

"Ultimately, our goal is to immunize all Nova Scotians," he said. "Over the next week, as we get more vaccine, we will add more groups, based on risk."

The province should get about 53,000 doses of vaccine next week. But about half of that shipment will be unadjuvanted vaccine, which is typically reserved for pregnant women.

The province will have more than enough unadjuvanted vaccine to cover all of the pregnant women in the province, which means there will be a surplus of this type.

The province is now trying to determine which high-risk groups could benefit from receiving the unadjuvanted vaccine.

"There's no firm scientific guidance on that yet."

So far, about 13 per cent of Nova Scotia's population has received the vaccine.