Americans who simply must have a flu shot are heading north to Canadian clinics willing to inoculate them, some paying as much as $55 in U.S. dollars – more than seven times what it would cost at some U.S. public health programs.

“I don’t care what it costs – we just can’t stand in line,” said Edna Miller, 84, of Detroit who, like dozens of others, called the Detroit Free Press on Monday looking for places offering flu shots for her and her 95-year-old husband.

There’s no easy way to find a flu shot, in the United States or Canada. No one is keeping a list of Canadian sites. Many county clinics in Michigan are booked or, like Detroit, only offer shots to the first 100 people in line.

In Canada, privately run clinics can market flu shots to Americans.

By contrast, provincial clinics, which are part of the Canadian government’s national health program, require proof of Canadian residency or a health care card in most Canadian provinces.

By January, the United States expects to dispense another 35 million doses of flu vaccine, but only to high-risk groups, which include those over age 65, children 6-24 months old, people with chronic health problems or those with compromised immune systems and pregnant women.

Until then, be patient, stay healthy, wash your hands frequently and practice good hygiene, health experts advise. Or stand in line. Or call and try to get a canceled appointment through one of the metro Detroit health programs.

The search for vaccines comes as the United States enters its third week of a flu vaccine shortage, triggered by the halt in production at a plant in Liverpool, England, scheduled to produce as much as half of the U.S. vaccine supply.

In the Buffalo, N.Y., area, so many Americans are lining up for shots that Urgent Care Niagara in Fort Erie, Ontario, now tops its Web page (www.urgentcareniagara.com) with “U.S. Flu Shot Update, Click Here.”

The clinic is providing 200 flu shots each weekday to U.S. residents at $40.97. The shots are surplus doses not needed by the 100 Canadians getting flu shots a day, clinic officials have said.

In Vancouver, more than 75 Americans have booked appointments for Saturday’s flu shot clinic at Vancouver Coastal Health.

“The demand has been quite fierce,” said Viviana Zanocco, the clinic’s director of media relations.

The clinic, which offers vaccines as part of its travel program, charges $50 – $20 for the shot and $30 for a clinic fee, she said.

A second flu shot clinic is scheduled for Nov. 6. After that, clinic officials will decide whether to buy more vaccine. “It’s not our primary money-maker,” Zanocco said

The Coastal Health authority is part of British Columbia’s government health program and runs hospitals as well as clinics, she said.

Using Internet White and Yellow Page listings, the Detroit Free Press found a half-dozen clinics stretching across Canada that are willing to vaccinate Americans. Prices varied.

Chinatown Centre Medical Clinic in Vancouver charges $15. Park Plaza Medical Centre in Regina, Saskatchewan , charges $45 – $20 for the shot and $25 for the doctor’s fee. In Ottawa, Maine residents are rushing in for flu shots. So are Bismarck, N.D., residents, who recently flocked to pharmacies in Estevan, Saskatchewan.