Maimonides is first in line for vaccine
The consent forms have arrived, a dry run went off without a hitch and medical staff and residents at Maimonides Geriatric Centre are gearing up for the historic moment that could come as soon as Friday night.
Ten months into the global pandemic, Canada's first shipment of 30,000 doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine is en route to Montreal.
Two boxes, with 975 doses each, will be sent to Maimonides in Côte- St-luc and some of the 324 elderly residents will be among the first Canadians to receive the coveted vaccine, the Montreal Gazette has learned.
“We expect to start vaccinating residents of Maimonides this weekend, as early as Saturday night,” Barry Morgan, a spokesperson for the CIUSSS West Central Montreal wrote in an email. “Timing depends on when we receive the vaccine.”
Morgan said that they have received 100 positive replies in less than three hours after notifying families.
In an email sent to residents' families at 12:29 p.m. Thursday, families were told the vaccinations could start on Friday night or Saturday.
The consent form was sent out in French only and families were told to phone Maimonides if they had trouble filling it out.
Health Canada approved the vaccine on Wednesday.
Joyce Shanks said she discussed the COVID-19 vaccine with her 81-year-old father, Harvey Stoliar, Thursday afternoon and told him there could be side effects.
“He agreed to do it,” Shanks said. “We told him that we could not wait to take him out again (for dinner). I told him that six weeks from now I want to say: `You made it through the pandemic. All miracles are welcome on Hanukkah.' ”
Some seniors at the long-term care centre want to be vaccinated, but not in the first round, said Francine Dupuis, associate executive director of Montreal's centre-west health authority.
Less than two weeks ago, 20 residents with active cases of COVID-19 were moved to other institutions to break the cycle of infection. Eight patients who live at the geriatric centre have died in the pandemic's second wave.
Despite the recent outbreak, Quebec chose Maimonides as a distribution centre because it's a large facility with many seniors and is located in a “hot red zone,” Dupuis said in an interview.
“They (also) said we have good technical expertise to put everything in place because we're (affiliated) with the Jewish General Hospital.”
When a specially trained group of nurses are given the green light, they will begin inoculating residents and bedside staff. “The staff is excited and they're very proud,” Dupuis said.
Staff at other CHSLDS, who have expressed an interest in being vaccinated, will be able to come to Maimonides to get it done. “We will fill all the places until the boxes are empty,” Dupuis said.
The second dose, which needs to be given three weeks later, will arrive later on.
Quebec is expecting a delivery of 55,000 doses by Jan. 4 and the delivery of 1.3 million more by March 31. The goal is to vaccinate 650,000 people by March 31.
Staff at Maimonides have been talking favourably about the vaccine to residents and their families.
“We are telling them they should get vaccinated,” Dupuis said. “It's 95 per cent (effective). It will protect them from having the disease, protect their families and everyone around them.”
Dupuis said medical staff would be on hand in case anyone has a serious reaction to the vaccine.
“We will have (crash) carts in case someone goes into anaphylactic shock,” she said. “There will be enough staff monitoring them for side effects and orderlies will check on them regularly.”
The vaccine can produce shortterm discomfort in some individuals, including headaches, a sore arm, fatigue, chills and fever.
Dupuis said she hopes that residents in CHSLDS can be vaccinated in their centres because it's not ideal to transport elderly residents to Maimonides, or another distribution centre, in the middle of winter.
“These people are very sick, old and frail,” she said. “It's not a good option. It's the same all over Canada; our elderly are not all in one place.”
During a recent trial run at Maimonides, medical staff made sure they followed Pfizer's protocols for handling the vaccine to the letter.
Two boxes were placed in a special refrigerator at minus-70 degrees Celsius. A pharmacist and a doctor were on site to watch as nurses practised preparing the vaccine.
Although family members are happy that the vaccine is on its way, some say the health authority has done a poor job of communicating with them about the immunization plan. A virtual town hall with family members, scheduled for Thursday, was postponed Wednesday afternoon because staff had to focus on the vaccination campaign.
“We have been told nothing,” said Joyce Shanks, a member of the family advocacy group at Maimonides.
There will be enough staff monitoring (those who get the vaccine) for side effects and orderlies will check on them regularly.
The group had sent an 11-page document to the CIUSSS on Tuesday with questions about poor communication, the vaccine procedure, staffing and ventilation.
“Our first question was how will they be monitoring them for side effects like chills and fever?” Shanks said in an interview.
Dupuis defended the decision to cancel the meeting, saying staff at the centre are run off their feet preparing for the vaccinations and taking care of residents.
She said she would be happy to get the vaccine today, if it were available.
“When it's my turn, I will get it,” she said.