MONTREAL -- As early as 6 a.m. Thursday, people were lining up at the Palais des congrès de Montréal to take advantage of the walk-in clinic and get vaccinated against COVID-19. It opens at 8 a.m.

The Centre intégré universitaire de santé et de services sociaux (CIUSSS) du Centre-Sud-de-l'Île-de-Montréal announced the opening of the clinic Wednesday.

People eligible to be vaccinated Thursday must be 25 years old or older. As of Friday, access to the clinic, as well as the booking schedule, will be extended to people aged 18 and over.

The CIUSSS specifies that each day, a few hundred walk-in spaces will be available at the Palais des congrès for anyone looking to receive their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines will be used; the walk-in clinic at the Palais des congrès set up a few weeks ago only offered the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.

- This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 13, 2021.