MONTREAL -- Pharmacies across Quebec that asked for extra doses of the flu vaccine about two weeks ago will be able to get 100,000 more doses.
It’s “positive news,” said Hugues Mousseau, director of the Quebec Association of Pharmacy Distributors (AQDP), as he confirmed the news.
Pharmacies have been inundated with requests for more appointments, he said.
The vaccines will be transferred from a government facility to a pharmacy distribution centre, and then to the pharmacies as of next week.
The extra stock will allow pharmacies to open up more appointments for free flu shots to those who meet the criteria for the government’s public program.
Approximately 1,600 Quebec pharmacies are participating in this year’s flu vaccine campaign, and it's not clear how many of them have asked for more doses.
But last month, even before the program opened, appointments at many Montreal pharmacies were snapped up quickly, demand far exceeding supply.
The vaccines that are on the way will come from the limited stock of approximately 1.2 million doses the province bought for this season.
The development comes after discussions between the Quebec government and the AQDP that began earlier this year, when it became apparent that getting a flu shot was going to be a popular choice this year in the midst of a pandemic.
