COVID vaccinations expand to all adults in Quebec

MONTREAL (CityNews) – All adult Quebecers can now make an appointment for a COVID-19 vaccine.

At Montreal’s Palais des Congres, young people are turning out in droves, especially now that it’s a walk-in with no appointment needed.

“It was the first place to get vaccinated without an appointment. I was like ‘ok lets go, I live nearby. Why not take the chance to get vaccinated? to get it done with’,” said 19-year-old Ryan Naccache.

Many with the same idea to quickly get their hands on one of the 600 doses available at the walk-in at the convention centre, where Friday marked a milestone – the first day they reached full capacity for vaccination appointments – with 3,600 people.

“It feels incredible because as a team, for our team at the CIUSSS centre, we’ve been preparing for a day like this for months. A moment where we can use the full capacity of our installation,” explained Annie Dufour, spokesperson for CIUSSS Centre-Sud.

“People coming for their first doses are definitely in the younger age group, which was what I heard and feared was going to be the most reticent for this vaccine, scared and so many doubts. But I’m happy they’re here and they’re confident,” said Marguerite Wong, vaccinator.

The walk-in vaccination clinic’s success comes as the province marked another record day of doses administered with over 110,000 on Thursday alone, increasing the total to 4.1 million or 46.1 per cent of Quebecois receiving their first dose so far.

“We’ve done relatively well. We still have a way to go though, so we can’t let our good progress make us complacent because it’s still going to take a while for people to get fully vaccinated,” explained Dr. Christopher Labos, an Epidemiologist & Cardiologist.

“Everybody needs their second dose and there’s still a larger number of the population to get to. While we’re still going to have most adults done in the next couple of months – we still have get everybody under the age of 18,” added Labos.

The province has said it plans to administer first doses to 12-17 year-olds by end of June, but have yet to provide any information regarding vaccination for the lower age group.

As of Thursday, Quebecers with their first dose are starting to receive online proof of vaccination, with 84,000 QR codes being downloaded.

“The problem with the QR code, yes it works for you and me. There are people who don’t have smartphones, there are people who don’t have access to technology. There’s going to have be something beyond the QR code,” explained Labos.