MONTREAL -- It's normally the thrill of danger that attracts people to La Ronde but on Friday, the provincial government was hoping to use the theme park to reduce attendees' risk from a threat very different from a roller coaster.

The pop-up COVID-19 vaccination clinic was meant to make it easier for young Montrealers to get their jabs, with a goal of 1,400 shots to be administered over two days.

Staff were sent into the park to let people know that first and second doses were available for anyone over the age of 12.

In Quebec, more than 70 per cent of people between the ages of 12 and 29 have received at least one dose but only 30 per cent of people between 12 to 17 have been fully vaccinated and only 41 per cent of those between 18 and 29 have had both shots.

“What we saw in hospitals in the third wave was that as vaccination rates increase in older people, there was a larger and larger proportion of those requiring hospitalization who were unvaccinated young adults,” said pediatric infectious disease specialist Jesse Papenburg.

Papenburg cautioned that the spread of the more infectious Delta variant and increasing case counts could signal the beginning of a fourth wave.

“That's what we are going to see come fall and winter. It's going to be an epidemic for unvaccinated, in particular young adults that might be otherwise health and don't feel they're at risk,” he said.