Calculated risk or gamble? Experts differ on merits of Quebec s COVID-19 vaccine strategy theglobeandmail.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from theglobeandmail.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Monday is the first day of a week-long Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine drought in Canada, and the sudden change in plan has several provinces scrambling to readjust their vaccine rollout scheduling.
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Quebec’s COVID-19 vaccine plan was ‘political decision’: expert
Quebec is planning to start giving second doses in the week of March 15, 90 days after some residents of the Maimonides Geriatric Centre in Côte-St-Luc received their first shots. Read more here.
COVID-19 outbreak on palliative care service at Jewish General Hospital
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Try refreshing your browser, or #ICYMI: Vaccine plan political , Jewish General outbreak, other news Back to video
There has been an outbreak of COVID-19 in the palliative care service of the Jewish General Hospital. Read more here.
Quebec reports 1,457 new COVID-19 cases, 41 more deaths
MONTREAL It’s been 42 days since residents of Maimonides Geriatric Centre in Montreal received their first doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, and with no appointments scheduled to administer the second dose, Quebec is now heading into the “wilderness,” says a leading Montreal geriatrician. Dr. Jose Morais, Chief of Geriatric Medicine at McGill University, emphasized that he thinks “these are difficult decisions,” and “from the public health standpoint, maximizing the distribution of the vaccine is the right thing to do,” to protect a larger number of vulnerable seniors and front-line health-care workers. From what is known about vaccines and immunity, he also said it’s unlikely the protective effects of one dose will just abruptly disappear. They usually diminish more slowly, and it is possible the effects could last for three months.
The province's Health Ministry is adjusting its short-term vaccination goals on the fly, with Pfizer temporarily slowing down delivery of its doses to Canada.