Quebec's January COVID-19 death toll caused by delay in booster shots: experts

January isn't over yet, but with 1,144 deaths due to COVID-19 so far in Quebec, it is already considered the fifth deadliest month since the pandemic began.

Two health experts say the high number of deaths is due, in part, to the slow pace of Quebec's campaign to provide booster doses to people aged 70 and older living outside institutional care.

"I feel there are a considerable number of deaths and hospitalizations that could have been avoided if we had given the third dose earlier," said Dr. Quoc Dinh Nguyen, a gerontologist at the Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal.

As of Jan. 21, about 87 per cent of COVID-19-related deaths in the previous 28 days were among people 70 years and older.

Unlike previous waves, most of those who died were living at home rather than in long-term care homes or private seniors' residences.

In addition, of those 70 years and older who died in the current wave, 22 per cent were unvaccinated, but 34.7 per cent had received a third dose of vaccine more than seven days prior.

The Quebec Health Ministry reports 76 per cent of Quebecers aged 60 and older have received three doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, while 94 per cent have received two.

Dr. Donald Vinh, an infectious diseases specialist at the McGill University Health Centre, points out this month's statistics -- fewer deaths in long-term care facilities, but more in the community -- are a result of the delay in administering the third dose in Quebec.

-- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Jan. 26, 2022.