Quebec COVID-19 booster rates stay low as province launches new vaccination campaign

MONTREAL

As Quebec prepares to launch a provincewide COVID-19 vaccination campaign ahead of a potential new fall wave, it’s unclear whether it will be enough to prompt a pandemic-weary public to roll up their sleeves for another booster.

As of Wednesday, only 56 per cent of Quebecers aged five and older had received a third vaccine dose — a number that has hardly budged in months. Government officials have said that the low booster uptake is due to the fact that millions of Quebecers have caught the novel coronavirus and consider themselves adequately protected.

Health experts, meanwhile, say pandemic fatigue and government communication have also played a role.

Dr. Don Vinh, an infectious diseases specialist at the McGill University Health Centre, points the finger at the provincial government’s messaging. Vinh says the government should have more strongly promoted boosters over the past six to eight months instead of making a big push at a time when the current wave of COVID-19 is waning.

If there had been a “consistent and clear” advisory on boosters, “more people would have been protected and all the consequences of the infection over the last few months would have been avoided,” he said in an interview.

Health Minister Christian Dube on Tuesday acknowledged that booster rates had “stalled,” but he attributed the phenomenon in large part to the fact that so many people have been infected with COVID-19 in recent months. He told a news conference that 88 per cent of the most vulnerable age cohort — those over 60 — have received their third dose.

Nevertheless, he said all adults should get a booster if it’s been five months or more since their last shot, or three months since they were infected with the novel coronavirus. Dube said vaccine appointments will open for people 60 and older next week and for everyone 18 and up on Aug. 29.