A vaccination campaign against COVID-19 will take place this fall in Quebec
Posted August 16, 2023 5:48 pm.
A vaccination campaign against COVID-19 will take place this fall, Health Minister Christian Dubé announced on Wednesday. Details of the campaign will be known “within the next two weeks”, the Minister promised.
Dr. Luc Boileau, National Director of Public Health, will issue his recommendations on the management of COVID-19 by the end of August, Dubé said.
“I would tell Quebecers (that) it’s certain that there will be a vaccination campaign,” said the Minister during a press scrum on Wednesday morning.
Dr. Boileau’s recommendations will determine whether the vaccines will be aimed at a specific clientele, such as the elderly or citizens with weakened immune systems, for example.
However, “we will never prevent someone from getting vaccinated if they don’t fall into that category,” said Minister Dubé.
He also said he was closely monitoring the situation regarding the new Omicron sub-variant, the Eris variant.
“There has been some increase in cases, we’re talking a bit about an increase in hospitalizations, but not at the ICU level,” Dubé said, saying it’s reassuring that the increase is limited to “regular hospitalizations”.
For the time being, it is recommended that people contracting COVID-19 isolate themselves for a few days, until their symptoms disappear.
The return of free rapid tests?
Until last May, rapid tests for COVID-19 were available free of charge in Quebec pharmacies. They are now distributed free of charge at vaccination centers.
Questioned about their return to pharmacies, Minister Dubé replied that the availability, or otherwise, of free rapid tests in pharmacies will be part of Dr. Boileau’s recommendations.
-This article was translated from French by CityNews
