Quebec mosques to double as vaccine clinics for all

Quebec unveiled its plan to help ease hesitancy towards the COVID-19 vaccine and make getting a first dose accessible to all, by reaching out to community leaders for help and setting up mobile clinics.

The Ahmadiyya Islamic Centre – a mosque in Montreal North – might be closed now due to restrictions but in the summer it doubled as a vaccination clinic and they’re working to do so once more.

“The local communities are the most attached to the people who are actually living in that borough,” Imam Nabil Mirza told CityNews. “They know them personally, and when you know someone personally then, of course, they tend to listen to you more.”

Mirza received confirmation from CIUSSS du Nord-de-l’Île-de-Montréal that they want to hold a vaccination clinic at the mosque on February 19th. This would be the second time their first floor is used for Montrealers to get the vaccine.

“To have a vaccination clinic in your own mosque plays a big role as well because we have to remember the religious communities do listen to their religious leaders. And I think overall, the religious communities, you know, regardless of if it’s Muslim, Christian, or Jewish, they have played a very responsible role as well in encouraging,” added Mirza.

The Quebec government says they are taking a new “positive approach” to persuade people to get their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. The health department plans on opening more pop-up vaccine clinics, like the mosque has done and will do again, across the province. Saying that vulnerable and marginalized populations and those who are afraid of getting a dose are among the unvaccinated. Now hoping to reach these residents through respected leaders and groups in their communities.

Inside north Montreal mosque. (Photo Credit: CityNews staff)

So far, roughly 540 thousand Quebecers have not yet had a single dose of the vaccine. The CIUSSS du Nord-de-l’Île-de-Montréal says last July, the vaccination rate was about 57 per cent in Montreal North, but with their efforts of adapting to their population’s needs, like mobile vaccination clinics, today they are slowly approaching 80 per cent.

“It’s a mosque but we always say that it’s open to everyone. And we always say that if you’re not good to your neighbour, to other people, then you cannot be at peace with your creator as well. So, we feel that it is our duty, if they need any facility, we are ready to help the Quebec government, and society as a whole, to help them out to once and for all get rid of COVID.”