Just over one in two children have received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, but despite the slow progress in vaccination rates in some areas, no schools are used this week to immunize children near their place of residence.
The office of the Minister of Education confirmed this to Press, Tuesday, saying that the vaccination of the youngest took place in vaccination centers.
If, in Quebec as a whole, 56.5% of young people aged 5 to 11 have received a first dose of vaccine against COVID-19, in certain neighborhoods of the metropolis, such as Saint-Léonard, Montréal-Nord, Ville -Marie and Outremont, this rate does not yet exceed 40%.
At the CIUSSS du Nord-de-l’Île-de-Montréal, it is stated that they plan to “return to certain schools where vaccination rates will be lower”. “Discussions are underway to this effect,” writes its spokesperson Séléna Champagne. In the coming days, two mobile clinics are also planned on the territory.
“Meetings are scheduled over the next few days to see how we can deploy vaccination in schools, despite the closure of schools,” said Valérie Lafleur, spokesperson for the CIUSSS de l’Est-de-l ‘Island of Montreal.
Low rate in Saint-Léonard
In Saint-Léonard, only one in four children received their first dose of the vaccine, four percentage points more than two weeks ago. Without being able to say “precisely” why this rate is so low, the CIUSSS notes that in December, the high rate of COVID-19 infection complicated things in this sector.
In December, several students were in isolation and, in some cases, classes or even the entire school were closed when we visited for school vaccination. Some children who were to be vaccinated at this time were therefore not.
Valérie Lafleur, spokesperson for the CIUSSS de l’Est-de-l’Île-de-Montréal
According to the Santé Montréal website, there is currently a vaccination center that vaccinates children by appointment in this sector of the city. In Montreal, only two clinics offer walk-in vaccination for children, namely those at the Palais des congrès and the Olympic Stadium.
The president of the Federation of Teaching Unions is worried that, in this context, schools are once again becoming the places where they were before the Holidays. A few days before the Christmas holidays, elementary schools accounted for more than one in three outbreaks in Quebec.
“The government will say that [la vaccination] did not live up to what he wanted for toddlers. If they don’t have the vaccine, are we going to recreate these outbreaks in a period of extreme cold, when the windows are closed? », Asks Josée Scalabrini.