Vaccination centres shouldn't be left empty
In the race to get shots into arms, we can't afford to let capacity go unused
Vaccines versus variants. The race is coming down to the wire.
Our provincial government, bearer of our vaccines, seemed to be tripping over its own feet, but has been scrambling in the past few days to pick up the pace.
Last week, I received my COVID-19 vaccination at Décarie Square. I was in and out in about 25 minutes, including the 15 minutes afterward to make sure everything is fine. I couldn't believe how smooth the process was. The main reason, unfortunately, was that hardly anyone else was there. It appeared there were far more health-care workers than people getting the shot in the cavernous space.
Anti-maskers and those who don't respect the rules have been dragging us down. We all suffer the consequences every time there is a spike in the numbers. The resulting confinement measures delay our return to normalcy. The vaccine is the only light at the end of the tunnel.
While there is only so much the authorities can do about vaccine hesitancy and the scofflaws, ensuring that the vaccination process is run with maximum efficiency is something within their control. It's devastating, therefore, to see near-empty vaccination centres. The head of Quebec's vaccination campaign admitted Tuesday that 5,000 COVID-19 vaccination appointments in Montreal went unfilled over the Easter weekend. It is hard to escape the impression that meant 5,000 doses would have spent the weekend sitting in freezers in those locations, instead of going into arms. This is a race against time. If people of the designated age group are almost done, let others take those vaccines as soon as possible and wherever possible.
Setting up logistics for a mass vaccination campaign is certainly a challenge, but the painfully slow vaccine rollout left plenty of time for planning. The infrastructure was well in place; a contingency plan should have been ready in case not enough appointments were being booked. From the beginning, all teachers, for example, should have been eligible to be vaccinated as walk-ins, just as airlines allow standby passengers to make sure there is never an empty seat.
Premier François Legault has been criticized for what appear to be inconsistent decisions about what measures to implement, what to close and what to allow to open. This is a no-win scenario, as certain sectors of the economy and many individuals suffer with every confinement measure.
But it can only be win-win to pull out all the stops to expand vaccinations as quickly as possible. Until the Astrazeneca vaccine was made available this week to people 55 and over, and new eligibility categories were added, there had been no movement for Montrealers since March 22, when people born before 1962 became eligible. The province initially said it would not immediately broaden access in Montreal in order to let other regions catch up, and even diverted doses originally allocated to Montreal to other regions. Worrying about regional vaccination envy loses sight of the big picture.
Quebec is ahead of almost all other provinces, but that's not saying much. With a population similar to that of Quebec, Israel has fully vaccinated well over 50 per cent its population, and 65 per cent have had their first dose. The United States is working to make shots available to all adults by April 19, already a reality in most states.
To its credit, this past week the government has acknowledged the initial oversights, regrouped and is furiously playing catch-up, something that will bring us closer to the end of that tunnel and into the light. I would gladly have waited much longer in a more crowded (but socially distanced) Décarie Square to receive my vaccine, if that meant this nightmare would be over a few months sooner.
Robert Libman is an architect and building planning consultant who has served as Equality Party leader and MNA, as mayor of Côte-st-luc and as a member of the Montreal executive committee. He was a Conservative candidate in the 2015 federal election.