Pop-up clinics, phone line launched to reach Quebec's unvaccinated
Quebec will launch pop-up clinics and a phone line to reach unvaccinated citizens in an effort to increase first vaccinations in regions where rates are lowest.
Junior health minister Lionel Carmant made the announcement on Monday.
"We want to go meet people in the field. We want to explain the pros of vaccination by using a positive approach," said Carmant.
Carmant said a phone line will soon be up to answer concerns about the vaccine for those who are hesitant.
Beginning Thursday, a pop-up clinic will open at the CLSC Sainte-Catherine in Montreal's downtown core.
"Over the next few weeks other clinics will open up," said Carmant.
In Quebec, about eight per cent of the population has not received a first dose of vaccine.
Carmant said it is not only anti-vaxxers that have not received a dose, and that marginalized and vulnerable populations in addition to those who are afraid of getting a dose are among the unvaccinated.
"Several actions have been undertaken over the past few months to reach these populations, but I believe that it's necessary to do more," he said.
The new plan will work in cooperation with McGill University's Faculty of Medicine. Med students will help identify neighbourhoods in which to intervene.
Quebec vaccination campaign director Daniel Pare said the future strategy will include buses and opening clinics in regions where vaccination rates are low.
"We're really going towards the population and that's what we'll do," he said.
Carmant said teams will not be going door-to-door, but will work with community organizations and local leaders.
"The community organizations are fundamental partners in this campaign," he said.
The pop-up clinics will remain for one or two weeks in hopes that numbers will increase.
"Every dose given is going to be a little victory for me," said Carmant.
Carmant said past pop-up clinics have worked and that they are to thank for the province going from around 1.2 million unvaccinated to 600,000.
"So now we want to use the same technique and intensify it, increase the visibility to have further success with this technique," he said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.