Quebec toddlers will soon be protected from COVID-19. The vaccination of children from six months to five years will take off on Monday, confirmed Thursday the national director of public health, Luc Boileau.
At a press conference in Montreal, he also wanted to reassure Quebecers: the seventh wave of the virus should soon reach a “plateau”.
A first delivery of 70,000 doses of Moderna’s SpikeVax vaccine has been made in Quebec. Parents who wish can already make an appointment for their toddler to get a first dose. Containing a “reduced dosage”, this vaccine “offers a very good immune response after two doses”, assured Dr Boileau.
There is no booster dose for children under five, although some children with weakened immune systems may need three doses. For young people who have already contracted the disease, “one dose would be sufficient”, he also specified. According to the national director of public health, “the network is very active and ready to move forward”.
Health Canada gave the green light last week to a two-shot vaccine from Moderna that is specifically for toddlers. “Efficiency estimates [du vaccin] in patients aged six months to five years were similar to those in adults during the wave fueled by the Omicron variant, “assured the federal agency on Friday. This is the first COVID-19 vaccine authorized for use in very young people.
Since then, Quebec has been waiting for the approval of its Committee on Immunization (CIQ). A favorable opinion was published during the day on Thursday: “The CIQ recommends that Moderna’s Spikevax vaccine be offered to children […] which have no contraindications. An extended interval of 8 weeks or more between the two doses of vaccine should be preferred”.
According to Prime Minister François Legault, this new vaccination operation will limit the transmission of the virus in the midst of the seventh wave. “What we know is that even if young people, including young children, rarely suffer serious impacts, they are still in a position to transmit the virus to their parents, to their grandparents. It’s more like vectors of transmission, ”summarized the Prime Minister on the sidelines of an announcement of candidacies in Montreal.
“On the way to a plateau”
“There is one [virus], there it is, and not nearly! “said the D.r Boileau, who took advantage of his press conference to take stock of the evolution of the seventh wave of COVID-19 in Quebec. “We are on the way to a plateau,” he argued, citing the most recent projections from the National Institute for Excellence in Health and Social Services.
These predict “that there will be some stability” in the number of cases, he added. “That doesn’t mean it’s going down,” he said. This means that it remains high, but it is not increasing again in terms of hospitalizations. » According to the Dr Boileau, the current wave “has risen more quickly” and will stagnate at a “more elongated” plateau before descending.
Thursday, he took the opportunity to remind the population to remain vigilant during this festival period. “It is not the time with a COVID to go to festivals, he warned. It’s very good, the Festival d’été de Québec, but it’s an event that obviously generated cases, and we saw it at the level of the employees of the health network. »
Last week, the Center hospitalier universitaire de Québec sounded the alarm, when 416 of its employees were infected with the virus. In order to be able to maintain its service offer, the hospital had to allow infected caregivers to return to work after only five days of isolation instead of ten.
Asked about the arrival of a possible eighth wave of the virus, Luc Boileau was reassuring. “An eighth wave would come with a drop in herd immunity or a new variant,” he said. According to him, the current wave will not cause a subsequent one “immediately”.
Overcrowded hospitals
While it remained around 60 at the beginning of June, the moving average of new hospitalizations has exceeded 130 in the last few days, raises the National Institute of Public Health of Quebec.
More than 7,000 workers are missing from Quebec hospitals due to COVID-19. Added to this is a pool of health professionals on vacation. Prime Minister Legault assures that the network can hold out this summer, sometimes with “troubleshooting”. But several emergencies have already had to limit their opening hours.
“We want to make sure, among other things, that things go well in September. For the moment, yes, the hospitals are overloaded, but we still manage to provide services, ”said Mr. Legault.
With Maxance Cloutier