After hot start, demand for Astrazeneca vaccine fizzles
Despite a marked drop in demand for the Astrazeneca vaccine in walk-in clinics across the island, Montreal's public health director is pleased with vaccine rollout in the region and hopeful the current plateau in case counts will hold.
“We have had a good success with our vaccinations, and overall, the population is still applying the measures,” Mylène Drouin said in a radio interview Wednesday.
She said with those two factors continuing and with the aggressive approach her team has been taking toward outbreaks of the variants since February, Montreal might just manage to “maintain a certain plateau, which is trying to go up, but it's nothing like what's happening in other places.”
Montreal saw 313 new COVID -19 cases confirmed in the past 24 hours. So far, 4,647 people in the Montreal region have died of the disease. More vaccine doses have been administered in the Montreal region than in any other region of the province, with 583,315 doses administered as of 11 a.m. Wednesday, according to provincial health department figures. The Montérégie is a distant second, with 307,899 jabs given.
But health networks around the island report that demand has fizzled noticeably since Thursday for Astrazeneca, a vaccine that is being offered only to those over 55 years of age because of reports of a very low risk of blood clots associated with the product in younger people.
The Palais des congrès was prepared to administer up to 2,000 doses of Astrazeneca per day in its walk-in clinic, which serves the south central health region. But after a strong start last week, the clinic has only administered about 4,000 doses total over the past six days, said CIUSSS du Centre-sud spokesperson Jean Nicolas Aubé.
Same story at the network that serves the northern section of the island.
“Initially, there was a rush to get the Astrazeneca vaccine, and on Day 1, we vaccinated 500 people,” said Emilie Jacob, a spokesperson for the CIUSSS du Nord-de-l'îlede-montréal. “However, in the last few days, we've only vaccinated about 100 people a day with that vaccine.”
At the Olympic Stadium's walkin operation, 4,300 of the 6,000 available doses of Astrazeneca had been administered by Wednesday morning, said CIUSSS de l'est-del'île-de-montréal spokesperson Christian Merciari.
While demand was very high Thursday and Friday, with about 1,000 people being vaccinated each day, it dwindled to between 400 and 600 on the weekend and stayed there, he said.
The network began offering Astrazeneca by appointment on Tuesday at its three vaccination sites, the Olympic Stadium, the Martin Brodeur Arena and the Roussin Centre.
“So the reduction in lineups at our walk-in operation this morning could possibly be explained by the fact that people can now get an appointment to get the Astrazeneca vaccine,” Merciari suggested.
By Wednesday afternoon, 442 people had made appointments to get the vaccine over the next six days. Most appointment slots are already taken for the next week, he said, however there are about 100 slots available for this coming Sunday.
Merciari noted that all appointments for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which are being given according to eligibility priorities set by the provincial government, are full for the coming days.
The CIUSSS de l'ouest-de-l'îlede-montrèal, meanwhile, has administered 5,000 doses of Astrazeneca since Thursday, including 500 on Tuesday, said spokesperson Hélène Bergeron-gamache.
Drouin said there are still communities where people are unaware of the vaccination program or need help accessing it. “Prevention brigades” from the different health networks are going door to door, and through apartment buildings to raise awareness. And short-term mobile vaccination clinics are being set up in neighbourhoods considered vulnerable, the Monseigneur Pigeon creation centre in the Sud- Ouest borough being the latest example.
Drouin said she is “pretty satisfied” with the vaccination effort in Montreal so far. “We just got our results by neighbourhood for the 60-plus age group, and 80 per cent of our neighbourhoods have attained 75 per cent (first-dose vaccination rate).,” she told radio host Paul Arcand on Wednesday.
“So there are places where we have to continue to make targeted efforts but overall, there are not huge gaps like we see with other programs where you see a lot of inequality. And that's because of these efforts we've been making on the ground.”
But Drouin and her public health teams have their work cut out for them when it comes to getting their message across. Those who oppose vaccination and public health measures like the curfew are also working hard to influence the masses, through protests and other means.
For example, residents of the Plateau-mont-royal neighbourhood received flyers in their mail slots Wednesday questioning the safety of vaccines and the validity of public safety measures. The flyer mentions several conspiracy theories, including the one about Bill Gates having a plan to include smartphone detectable nanoparticles into the vaccines.
To make an appointment for a vaccine go to: bit.ly/3wvxoi2 or call 514-644-4545.