To convince the 540,000 adults who are still not vaccinated against COVID-19, Quebec will once again set up a series of “ephemeral clinics” in less vaccinated areas this winter. Medical and nursing students will take part in the operation, which aims for a “positive approach”.
Posted at 3:05 p.m.
Updated at 4:09 p.m.
“We will intensify our efforts to have appropriate strategies in neighborhoods with low vaccination rates. We want to meet people in the field, explain to them the benefits of vaccination, using a positive approach. […] This is what had been missing so far, I think, ”said the Minister for Health and Social Services, Lionel Carmant, on Monday.
A first “ephemeral clinic” will open Thursday in the CLSC Sainte-Catherine, at the corner of Saint-Laurent and Sainte-Catherine streets. It will be open every day from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., without appointment. Dozens of other clinics of this type should open throughout Quebec eventually, but priority will first be given to Montreal.
The measure, in itself, is not new: the government had already set up ephemeral vaccination clinics last summer. “We then went from 1.2 million to approximately 600,000 unvaccinated people. You add intensity to something that was already working. My goal is not to reinvent the wheel”, admitted Mr. Carmant on this subject. “Hesitant people, if they see the clinic, maybe the first day they won’t come in, but the next day they’ll go get information. Maybe in two or three days they will be vaccinated. »
A telephone line will also be set up for people “wishing to discuss with a health professional the factors contributing to their vaccine hesitancy”. Quebec also admits having access to the identity of the non-vaccinated, but will not contact them directly for the moment.
“There is nothing new in the plan presented today by Minister Carmant, for a very simple reason: they are content to increase the intensity of an approach that has shown its limits. It’s too little too late, ”responded Monday the solidarity critic in Social Services, Sol Zanetti.
Students called in as reinforcements
Quebec also announced the creation of a partnership with the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Montreal (UdeM), so that medical and nursing students “come to lend a hand”, either as vaccinators, evaluators, telephone operators or field agents. The CIUSSS Centre-Sud-de-l’île-de-Montréal will soon open a “I contribute” platform at the university level. “We want to insert them everywhere in the campaign,” promised Mr. Carmant on this subject.
The minister was also sparing of comments on the number of unvaccinated people he aims to reach. “Every dose given is going to be a gain. I have a figure in mind, but I will keep the reserve of not sharing it”, he slipped Monday, with a smile on his face, before adding: “all those who can and want to have the vaccine , we will give them. »
According to the director general of the executive management of the pandemic, Daniel Paré, the operation should also help to increase the rate of vaccination among young people aged 5 to 11, which has been slowing down for a few days. “Our children from 5 to 11 years old have parents, and sometimes there is a link between the two, so indeed if we can inform the parents well, there can be a really positive effect on our children,” he said. he agreed, saying he wanted above all to be “present” and “accessible”.
The government also calls for avoiding “amalgams”, and recalls that unvaccinated people “are not all against the vaccine and health measures”. Vulnerable or marginalized communities, or people who lack access to information or have literacy problems will also be targeted.
For now, the first doses administered in adults continue to decrease. After a peak of 2,400 first doses per day reached a week ago, the province has fallen back to less than 1,800 vaccines per day among those 18 and older. Vaccination among 5 to 11 year olds continues to progress quite slowly. About 1,100 children receive their first dose daily, which has increased the vaccination rate to 61.1%. On the other hand, the administration of the second doses in these same young people progresses rapidly. Two months after receiving their first dose, 9.2% of 5 to 11 year olds are now fully vaccinated.
With Pierre-André Normandin, The Press