Prime Minister François Legault hinted Wednesday that his government will most likely follow the advice of Public Health not advocating new reminders of the vaccine against COVID-19 in the medium term for healthy people.
Quebec has not yet officially announced its colors on the follow-up it intends to give to the opinion that has just been given to it by the Quebec Immunization Committee to this effect. In a scrum held before the meeting of the Council of Ministers in Quebec, François Legault, however, suggested that his government had always lined up behind the opinions of Public Health.
“Well, listen, there, I think we have worked well, for two and a half years, with Public Health, then we will follow their recommendations,” he said.
In a scientific opinion, of which The duty published the content last week, the Quebec Immunization Committee (CIQ), affiliated with the National Institute of Public Health of Quebec (INSPQ), believes that a booster shot is no longer necessary for healthy people adequately vaccinated.
The CIQ is of the opinion that only at-risk clienteles (those over 60, people living in CHSLDs or RPAs, immunocompromised people, pregnant women, health care workers and people living in remote or isolated regions ), and those who have never been infected by the virus, would benefit from receiving a booster if they were vaccinated more than 6 months ago.
The opinion is in the hands of the Minister of Health and Social Services, Christian Dubé, who briefly indicated before entering the Council of Ministers on Wednesday “that he continued to follow this”. It is up to him to decide whether or not to follow the recommendations issued by the Public Health Department.
Prime Minister Legault was less hesitant: “If Public Health tells us ‘There are some people, after three or four doses, that it is no longer necessary to get vaccinated,’ we will as we have been doing for two and a half years, soon almost three years, we will follow the recommendations of Public Health. »
XBB.1.5
In addition, the latest data published Wednesday by the National Institute of Public Health of Quebec (INSPQ) confirms the rapid progression of the XBB.1.5 subvariant, the most contagious descendant of Omicron reported to date. The XBB.1.5 variant was detected in 11.5% of cases detected in Quebec between January 8 and 14. Since Christmas, the share of this variant, already dominant in the northeastern United States, has increased fivefold.