Quebec’s health minister hopes young children between the ages of five and 11 will be able to get a first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine as early as this fall.
Christian Dubé made the comments Tuesday as he spoke to reporters at the provincial legislature about the ongoing health crisis.
“I hope that by November — this is what I’m hearing right now — that, at least before Christmas, we could vaccinate for a first time that category,” he said.
The vaccine is currently available to anyone who is 12 and older. The province’s public health institutes report that more than 85 per cent of eligible Quebecers have rolled up their sleeves for a first shot.
On Monday, Pfizer said its vaccine works for children aged five to 11 and that it will seek U.S. authorization for this age group soon. The Canadian branch of the company said it will also presents its data to Health Canada, but did not specify when.
The vaccine made by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech is already available for anyone 12 and up.
In the meantime, Dubé urged vigilance amid the fourth wave of the pandemic but noted that the number of new cases appears to be at a plateau.
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He asked Quebecers to keep abiding by measures to stem the spread of the virus to book appointments for the vaccine if they haven’t done so already.
“We haven’t vaccinated everyone,” he said. “We still have vaccines.”
The government will also unveil a plan to address the province’s nursing shortage Thursday, Dubé said.
It’s estimated that the public health system is lacking about 4,000 nurses — a problem that Premier François Legault described as critical. The government had previously mentioned it is considering bonuses or raises to entice nurses who left the network to come back.
Dubé said he’ll explain Thursday how the government will employ the same “winning formula” to the nursing shortage that it used for its novel coronavirus vaccination campaign. The plan will include a reorganization of work, a significant increase in the number of full-time positions, a plan to eliminate mandatory overtime and an eventual end to the use of private employment agencies, he said.
“We cannot wait three years to pick up the 4,000 nurses that we need,” Dubé said. “How can we accelerate the hiring of those either retired or who have quit in the last six months?”
— with files from Global News’ Raquel Fletcher, The Canadian Press and The Associated Press
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