A doctor's decision to vaccinate members of the Abbotsford Heat professional hockey team against H1N1 was inappropriate and against provincial guidelines, B.C.'s chief medical health officer says.

Dr. Perry Kendall said Wednesday there has been no directive to give priority vaccinations to professional or amateur sports teams ahead of those more at risk and he will be speaking with the doctor involved.

The doctor's move, he added, was "outside provincial guidelines for the vaccination program," which is focused on the moment on people with underlying health problems and first responders.

"I'd love to say it was an Alberta vaccine and it was a rogue doctor," Kendall said, but added: "It was a recommendation by the team physician. I'm going to have a discussion with him saying it wasn't appropriate."

Kendall said he likely won't refer the doctor to the B.C. College of Physicians for discipline unless it happens again.

The vaccine was administered at a clinic in the Lower Mainland, he said.

The Abbotsford Heat Hockey Club, owners and operators of the Abbotsford Heat of the American Hockey League, said Wednesday they understood and appreciated the implications of a potential outbreak of the H1N1 flu and the protocols in place to manage access to the H1N1 vaccine.

Team president and chief executive officer Tom Mauthe said the decision was made to immunize the team members following a recent road after several players became ill.

He said once they returned to Abbotsford, the team physician assessed the players.

"At the direction of the physician, those players deemed at 'high risk' were recently immunized in a public facility along with members of the general public who, we also understand, were deemed 'high risk'" he said.

Mauthe would not disclose who was and who was not immunized, citing confidentiality.

"At no time did anyone from the Abbotsford Heat receive preferential treatment nor did they jump a queue," he said, adding no Abbotsford Heat personnel, outside the immediate team, were immunized.

B.C. Health Minister Kevin Falcon reiterated Kendall in saying that the team should not have been given priority. "But at this point, at first blush, it does not in any way jive with the guidelines the province has set out, so it is concerning," he said.

The Abbotsford Heat is the Calgary Flames’ farm-team. In Alberta, that province's Health Services has has fired a senior staff member after members of the Calgary Flames and their families were given H1N1 flu shots last Friday.

When asked if he would seek a similar probe, Falcon said he wanted to hear all the facts first.

"There may be extenuating circumstances that we're not aware of. There may be a medical rationale that prompted him or her to make that decision that I'm not aware of," he said. "What we have to make sure we do is get all the information, get all the facts and the chief provincial health officer is going to make sure the doctor is keenly aware of what the provincial priorities are.

"We do understand that when we're undertaking the most massive vaccination program in provincial history that there are going to be some errors made."

In Alberta, the name of the senior staff member involved in releasing the H1N1 vaccine to Calgary Flames players and their family members was not made public.

"Like most Albertans, I am deeply offended that this circumstance has occurred," said a statement signed by Ken Hughes, board chairman of Alberta Health Services, and Stephen Duckett, CEO and president.

"AHS board and management have a fundamental commitment to serve all Albertans according to their needs, in medical priority. This circumstance was a clear departure from that principle. We set the expectation that this should not have happened and should not happen again."

The investigation is continuing to determine exactly how the Flames managed to jump the queue and get their H1N1 vaccinations before Albertans designated priority cases because of their risk of becoming dangerously ill.

In B.C., those people deemed to be in the highest risk groups that this week qualifies for the H1N1 vaccine include people under the age of 65 with chronic conditions such as asthma or diabetes or compromised immune systems, pregnant women past their 20th week, and those living in remote or first nations communities. Also included are children aged six months to less than five years, some health care workers, and those who live with or care for infants aged under six months and/or care for immune-compromised people.

Fifteen people in B.C. have diedfrom illness associated with the H1N1 flu, according to the B.C. Centre for Disease Control.