TORONTO - Ontario Health Minister Deb Matthews says health officials aim to inoculate 2.2 million people for the H1N1 flu by the week's end.

Tens of thousands of Ontario residents have already received the flu shot, she said, and the focus remains on high-priority groups most at risk of serious complications from swine flu.

"Our public health units are going to keep administering the flu shot until our fridges are empty," Matthews told a news conference.

Wait times at vaccination clinics across Ontario have been considerably reduced compared to last week and in some places there's no wait at all, she said.

The number of clinics has doubled to 100 from 50, and 2,000 doctors offices are being equipped to administer the shot.

Twenty flu assessment centres have been set up to relieve pressure on doctors' offices, and almost a dozen more will open by Wednesday.

Dr. Arlene King, Ontario's chief medical officer of health, said in the vast majority of cases, healthy people who get the H1N1 flu recover fully at home with no adverse consequences. She urged the public to remain calm, be patient and practise self-protection measures such as hand washing and coughing into sleeves.

King said Ontario has received 86,800 doses of unadjuvanted vaccine for pregnant women that will be shipped Tuesday and be in health units' hands within days.

There have been 31 confirmed H1N1 deaths and 82 people are in hospital with swine flu in Ontario. Tests are pending on whether a 32nd person -- a child -- died from the virus.

King said officials are rolling out the immunization program as quickly as possible based on supply, and while federal officials have advised that they will continue to get the vaccine until Christmas, that doesn't mean it will take until Christmas to get everyone inoculated.

Prisoners who have underlying conditions are among the high-risk groups who began getting vaccinated last week. So far, 89 inmates have had their shots.

The Ontario Council of Hospital Unions, a division of CUPE which represents 25,000 nurses and support staff, sounded the alarm Monday over whether hospitals can handle any flood of H1N1 patients, given that they are already operating at almost full capacity.

"We're concerned that the Ontario hospital system does not have the capacity with respect to ICU beds and ventilators to handle the surge in the numbers of H1N1 admissions that's coming," said council president Michael Hurley.

He says 15,000 beds have been cut in the last 15 years and called on the province to set up more beds and purchase more ventilators.

"There's been a big emphasis on vaccines and handwashing and a lot of money has been spent on television advertising," Hurley said from Hamilton.

"We want to see some bulk up in the capacity of the Ontario hospital system to actually handle the admissions."

Some hospital emergency rooms last week including those in Toronto and Ottawa were overwhelmed by patients with swine flu symptoms.

Ministry of Health spokesman David Jensen said Monday there are more than 8,000 ventilators in Ontario. Health officials said the province has purchased 200 more. There are about 1,100 critical care beds routinely capable of supporting mechanical ventilation, Jensen said.

Premier Dalton McGuinty said families in cities such as Toronto last week "were left waiting in line for simply too long."

He's confident this week's vaccine rollout will proceed better than last week's. He met Monday with Matthews and King to discuss how to improve the system.

Lineups at some Toronto clinics began nine hours before they opened, but wait times were generally shorter than last week. City of Ottawa officials said there were lineups Monday but wristbands designating appointment times improved efficiency.

Matthews said the government is committed to reviewing how the rollout went, but only after the H1N1 vaccination program is finished.

Jensen said there currently is no set date for when the flu vaccine will be available to the general public.