MONTREAL -- The Comité sur l'immunisation du Québec (CIQ) is recommending that authorities immediately consider administering the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to residents of Quebec's long-term care facilities.
In a memo sent Friday to the Institut national de la santé publique (INSPQ), the CIQ also suggests rapidly improving vaccine coverage among residents and health-care workers by implementing strategies that are recognized as effective and adapted to the specific issues of the various settings.
The committee believes that the benefits of administering the second dose to other priority groups must be weighed against the risks of delaying the administration of the first dose to groups not yet reached. To do so, he proposes to continue monitoring the impact of COVID-19 vaccination in Quebec and to closely follow international studies on the subject.
In December, the immunization committee proposed injecting the first dose into the largest number of people in the first six priority groups, essentially people aged 70 and over, and delaying the administration of the second dose. A similar position was later adopted by the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI).
As of March 3, the Ministry of Health and Social Services recommends a 16-week interval between the two scheduled vaccine doses.
The INSPQ reports that the data on the effectiveness of the first dose of the vaccines in CHSLD residents is generally encouraging.
However, it adds that issues have arisen, including the onset of the third pandemic wave due to more transmissible and virulent variants.
In addition, suboptimal vaccination coverage among health-care workers in a majority of Quebec's CHSLDs significantly increases the risk of infection among these unvaccinated workers and of introducing the coronavirus into the CHLSDs, according to the Institute.
-- this report by The Canadian Press was first published April 23, 2021.
