Quebec hopes to give first doses to 5- to 11-year-olds before Christmas

MONTREAL -

Quebec expects to be able to start vaccinating 5 to 11-year-olds as early as next week and will offer a hybrid program to allow parents who wish to accompany their children for the shot.

Health Minister Christian Dubé, who was in Montreal on Friday to announce the creation of the a new diabetes centre at the CHUM, gave some details on the children's vaccination program following the approval given by Health Canada.

"It's great news that we received from Health Canada for the vaccination of 5-11 year olds," he said, adding that he expects to give details of the program in the coming days.

A FIRST DOSE BEFORE CHRISTMAS

But already, he explained that he has "a very clear objective, now that things are becoming clearer: it is to have done a first dose for all children before Christmas. It could start as early as next week. That gives us about three weeks, a month, to be able to vaccinate a little less than 700,000 children."

Dubé is not setting a percentage target, although the figure of 80 per cent has been suggested in the past, but he points out that the vaccination of adolescents aged 12 to 17 has gone well beyond his government's hopes, with 95 per cent of them getting a first dose and 87 per cent fully vaccinated.

"The 12-17s surprised us," he acknowledged. "We are aiming for the highest percentage possible because we know that this is the last thing we need to do with the vaccine population."

• READ MORE: Only about 60 per cent of Quebec parents plan to get their kids vaccinated, survey shows

 NO VACCINE PASSPORT FOR CHILDREN

As for the hybrid formula, it aims to reassure parents and allow them to be there for the vaccination:

"Parents who want to accompany their children to the vaccination centres, it will be possible, but we will also do it at school. We will be able to do this combination of the two and I think it will allow us to reach quite high percentages," he said.

The minister also said Quebec has no intention of subjecting children to the vaccine passport.

"That is not our objective. We'll focus on vaccinating children. (...) At this age we take for granted that they will be accompanied by their parents and we have to keep it simple," he said.

He reminded the audience that this is a public health decision, but said that public health has not made any such request for children.

EASTERN TOWNSHIPS EXAMPLE

The health minister used the example of the outbreaks in the Eastern Townships to emphasize once again the importance of obtaining high vaccination rates: "This is a good example of what happens when we do not have the same vaccination rate as the general population."

For example, the vaccination rate in the Granit municipality, on the border of the Eastern Townships and Chaudière-Appalaches, is about 70 per cent, compared to a rate of about 80 per cent in the general Quebec population when children who are not yet vaccinated are included.

"That 10 per cent difference has a big impact," he said. "In these regions, we have active cases of the order of 500 people affected per 100,000 population, whereas the average in Quebec is 70. It's almost like saying that, because we are missing 10 per cent of vaccination in some regions, we can have 8 to 10 times more active cases. What is the recipe? It's vaccination."

In the same breath, he was pleased to note that "in the last few days, there are still 2,000 to 2,500 people every day who come to get a first dose. It's never too late to change your mind, especially with the holidays approaching: people will want to get together, will want to be together. Those who are not going to be vaccinated, I would say please, go get it."

- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Nov. 19, 2021.