The new constraints on non-vaccinated people, including the obligation of a health passport in the branches of the Société des alcools du Québec and the Société québécoise du cannabis – which is due to come into force on Tuesday – seem to have slightly increased the number first doses in adults. However, the effect appears minimal, as the number of hospitalizations and deaths continues to increase in the province.
Updated yesterday at 11:28 p.m.
Combined with the announcement of the famous “health contribution” for those who have not been vaccinated, the extension of the vaccination passport announced by the Minister of Health and Social Services, Christian Dubé, at the beginning of January, indeed seems to have increased the number of first doses in adults, but in a fairly light way.
Thus, just over 20,000 Quebecers aged 18 and over have received their first dose since January 6. The effect is therefore relatively small, having increased the vaccination rate in this group by only 0.3 percentage points, to 92.2%. There are still 540,000 unvaccinated adults, according to Monday’s government figures.
The rate of first doses in adults has increased from 900 per day to 2,300 since the beginning of the month. According to the DD Marie-Pascale Pomey, public policy expert at the School of Public Health at the University of Montreal, the 540,000 adults who are still not vaccinated will be “very difficult to convince”.
They kind of constitute the core of the irreducible Gauls, if you will. For these people, coercion, punitive measures, it risks turning them on even more, legitimizing them even more. It is a negative perverse effect. Their positioning is identity and very strongly anchored in them.
The DD Marie-Pascale Pomey, from the School of Public Health at the University of Montreal
The whole challenge therefore lies, in his view, in “positive” solutions. “If we go to people, we listen to their complaints, it can help convince them. The CHUM, for example, had held speaking spaces to let its nurses who opposed vaccination speak, without provocation, by listening. And it worked spectacularly,” says Dr.D Pomey, saying however that she is aware that this approach is “difficult” to apply at the population level.
No summit in sight
For now, there still does not seem to be a peak of the fifth wave in sight in Quebec. The province on Monday reported 54 additional deaths linked to COVID-19 as well as a further increase in the number of hospitalizations.
These 54 additional deaths brought the daily average to 57. The trend is thus up 93% over one week. So far, 12,364 people have succumbed to the virus.
In the health network, there was an increase of 81 hospitalizations on Monday, which translates into 303 new entries and 222 exits in total. Currently, 3,381 patients are hospitalized due to COVID-19, including 286 in intensive care, an increase of 4 in 24 hours (41 admissions, 37 discharges). A sign that the trend does not show a significant slowdown, the 3,381 people hospitalized still represent an increase of 32% in one week.
Provincial authorities also reported 5,400 new cases on Monday, bringing the daily average to 7,327, down 48% in one week. However, it should be remembered that the limits now imposed on screening make these data far less representative. The official bar of 800,000 people declared positive since the start of the pandemic in Quebec was nevertheless crossed on Monday.
Focus on vaccination
On the vaccination side, the pace is maintained, while Quebec administered just over 75,660 doses on Sunday, to which are added approximately 4,850 vaccines given before January 16 which had not yet been counted. Including people vaccinated outside the province, so far 16.7 million doses have been given to Quebecers.
To date, 85.5% of the Quebec population has received one dose, 78.2% has received two, and almost 31% has now received three. In addition, as of January 17, unvaccinated people were 5.8 times more likely to be hospitalized than those who received two doses of vaccine. In intensive care, this figure increased to 12.5 times. The unvaccinated account for 42% of intensive care beds currently, government data shows.
Finally, on Saturday, Public Health carried out 32,646 screening tests, a relatively stable figure compared to the weekly average. The positivity rate is 13.1%.
With the collaboration of Pierre-André Normandin and Thomas de Lorimier, The Press