Quebecers in private retirement homes face wait for COVID-19 vaccinations
It will take far longer than originally anticipated for Quebec residents of private retirement homes to get their COVID-19 vaccines, the province said Monday.
After completing the campaign to give a first dose to the 40,000 residents of public long-term care homes (CHSLDS), Monday was supposed to be the first day of a mass campaign to vaccinate 140,000 residents of private seniors homes.
However, only 9,000 have been vaccinated to date, said Marjaurie Côté-boileau, a spokesperson for Health Minister Christian Dubé.
An overhaul of Pfizer's production facilities in Belgium is being blamed for decreased deliveries to Canada. As such, Quebec will fall well short of its goal of administering 250,000 doses of vaccine by Feb. 8. A little more than 1.2 million doses are expected in Quebec by March 29, and Pfizer has said it will make up for the shortfall with larger deliveries in the coming weeks.
The health minister's office couldn't say on Monday how many doses are expected to be delivered in the coming weeks.
Côté-boileau said the health ministry is in the process of revising its vaccination calendar in light of the new schedule for vaccine delivery.
“We are dependent on the doses of vaccine that we receive from the federal government,” Côté-boileau said. “We need more vaccines. Quebec is ready.”
On Sunday, 1,960 doses were administered, bringing the provincewide total to 220,715 doses. The province has received 238,100 doses to date, meaning that 93 per cent of all doses received have been administered.