The long-awaited bivalent COVID-19 vaccine will be available at vaccination centers across the province starting this week. A novelty that could breathe new life into the vaccination campaign, hopes Quebec.
Posted yesterday at 11:30 p.m.
The bivalent vaccine authorized last week by Health Canada “will arrive this week in our vaccination centers”, confirmed the office of the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, on Tuesday.
“We hear it on the ground: some people were waiting for the new vaccine to make their appointment. We will obviously continue to advertise to invite people to get their booster dose, ”said the minister’s spokesperson, Marjaurie Côté-Boileau.
The National Director of Public Health, Dr.r Luc Boileau, must take stock of the pandemic on Wednesday afternoon, we were told in the network.
Despite the campaign relaunched less than a month ago, the proportion of Quebecers whose vaccinations are up to date is declining, as the popularity of booster doses is weakening, noted The Press.
Public Health recommends that adults get a booster dose if it’s been more than five months since their last dose, and if they haven’t contracted COVID-19 in the past three months.
Quebec is currently administering an average of 13,200 doses per day, down 28% from last week.
As few Quebecers seek a booster dose, the province’s vaccination coverage begins to decline. Less than one in four people (23.6%) now have up-to-date vaccinations, down from last week.
Even Quebecers aged 70 and over, who have the highest vaccination rate to date, are falling. As of last week, 75% of seniors had received a booster dose in the past five months. They are only 70% left.
“We had already mentioned that we expected to have a continuous and extended demand over several weeks”, in particular because people who have had COVID-19 must wait three months, argued Ms.me Cote-Boileau. For three weeks, 320,000 people have been vaccinated, against 430,000 in six weeks of summer. “Since the announcement of the new vaccination campaign, we have almost doubled the pace. »
The bivalent effect
The first bivalent vaccine authorized in Canada against COVID-19, Moderna Spikevax Bivalent, received the green light from Health Canada last Thursday.
This vaccine, authorized as a booster dose in people aged 18 and over, targets both the original virus and the Omicron variant (BA.1). It also generates “a good immune response against the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants” and “should prolong the durability of protection,” Health Canada said on May 1er september.
The first delivery “should be available” to provinces and territories this week, with more expected in the next three weeks, Health Canada said by email.
The supply will be sufficient “for anyone aged 18 and over who wishes to receive this vaccine this fall and winter”, assures Ottawa.
In Quebec, the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS) expects to receive approximately 2.7 million doses.
“It is certain that the bivalent vaccine will encourage some people to go and get vaccinated”, predicts the Dr André Veillette, researcher at the Montreal Clinical Research Institute (IRCM) and professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Montreal.
On the other hand, “not everyone will run to get it,” he warns. Some of the Quebecers who received three doses “decided that they did their part”, notes the researcher.
It’s a shame, because people really should keep their vaccination records up to date.
The Dr André Veillette, researcher at the IRCM and professor in the Department of Medicine at the Université de Montréal
In addition to reducing the risk of serious illness and hospitalization, the booster dose “decreases the incidence of long-lasting COVID, which is going to be a huge problem”, he recalls. It also offers some protection against infection and transmission, “especially in the first three to four months after the dose.”
In the United States, health authorities are now banking on an annual anti-COVID-19 campaign, like the flu vaccination, unless a “very different” variant suddenly emerges, Agence France-Presse reported. tuesday.
The pressure releases
The pressure exerted by COVID-19 on the Quebec health network continued to decrease during the long Labor Day holiday. A drop of 171 hospitalizations has been recorded over the past four days.
The 1,557 people currently hospitalized represent a decrease of 14% over one week. In intensive care, the 34 patients represent a drop of 31% over one week.
The 1 new deaths reported during the long leave bring the daily average calculated over seven days to eight. The trend is thus down 49% over one week.
The number of workers absent due to the pandemic also continued to decline. They were 3,189 to have to isolate themselves on Tuesday, down 12% over one week.