Quebec once again implores the population to receive a booster dose, at a time when cases of COVID-19 and related hospitalizations are on the rise. Minister Christian Dubé is not overly concerned about low vaccination rates, but nevertheless says he is “concerned” about the situation in Europe.
Posted at 1:44 p.m.
“22% of the population received a booster dose in the last five months, so around 1.5 million vaccines. I often hear that it may seem low, but when we analyze the figures by age category, we are in a better position. Among those aged 60-79, this percentage rises to 39%. And for those 80 and over, it’s 52%, ”said Mr. Dubé on Wednesday, during his first outing since the end of the election campaign.
Among young people, vaccination rates are much lower, but many of them have been infected, according to the minister. He claims that Quebec “vaccinates at least more than 100,000 people per week, of all ages, since August 15”. Of this number, two-thirds are considered more vulnerable, namely Quebecers aged 60 and over.
Mr. Dubé hopes to see this rate of 100,000 weekly doses “increase” in the coming weeks, in the face of a “constant increase in COVID cases for the past 4 weeks, especially among people aged 70 and over and health care workers. », of which 3000 are still absent from the network.
“We are seeing an increase in hospitalizations, but which remains lower than what we have already experienced in previous waves. And above all, this increase is not being felt in intensive care at the moment,” rejoiced Mr. Dubé, inviting all Quebecers vaccinated more than five months ago, or who had been infected for more than three months to get vaccinated.
While the impact of COVID-19 appeared to stabilize over the Thanksgiving holiday, the most recent data shows a sharp increase. Quebec reported an increase of 207 hospitalizations on Wednesday. You have to go back to August 10 to count as many patients affected by COVID-19 in hospitals.
Quebec is not considering new health measures so far. If a new “more dangerous and more deadly” variant were to arise, the situation could however change, warned the national director of public health, the Dr Luc Boileau.
The case of Europe… and Christmas in sight
Mr. Dubé nevertheless admits to being “concerned” by what is happening in Europe, where hospitalization rates are rising sharply. Passing through Quebec on Tuesday, the federal Minister of Health, Jean-Yves Duclos, had also raised concerns about this.
“We see what is happening in Europe, with countries like France which have recorded a 40% increase in hospitalizations over the past week. And we know that we are always a little behind them, ”he argued, worrying about the fact that barely one in five Canadians is adequately vaccinated.
“At the moment, we have a situation which is certainly worrying”, for his part judged the Dr Luc Boileau. “We are going to be inside even more, to have as much contagion as possible. And Christmas is coming. Christmas is a long way off, but it’s not that far off. It’s in two and a half months. If we want to prepare for it, let’s be sure to have a good vaccination, ”he insisted.
Public Health has also confirmed that Pfizer’s bivalent vaccine adapted to the Omicron variant will arrive in the coming days. Quebec is also considering a revision of the five days of isolation with symptoms of COVID-19, a measure already abandoned in Ontario.
Earlier on Wednesday, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr.r Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, warned Wednesday that the long COVID, which currently affects around 5% of Quebecers, is “devastating” the lives and daily lives of tens of millions of people around the world. The WHO is urging states to launch “immediate” and “sustained” programs to counter the disease.
In December 2021, before the fifth wave and the arrival of new variants, the Department of Health and Human Services estimated that approximately 23,000 people had long COVID. “Currently, taking into account the vaccination and the variants present, 5% of the cases will give a case of long COVID-19”, indicated Tuesday to The Press Simon Décary, professor at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at the University of Sherbrooke.