The Quebec College of Physicians is urging the province to “step up the pace” of COVID-19 measures that limit the public’s exposure to unvaccinated individuals.
“The vaccinated population can no longer suffer in silence from the constraints of sanitary measures while unvaccinated people (who now make up a very small proportion of Quebec’s population) occupy one in two beds in short-term care and the majority of beds in intensive care,” wrote the Collège des médecins du Québec president, Dr. Mauril Gaudreault, on Friday.
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Health officials say about 50 per cent of COVID-19 hospitalizations in Quebec are people who are unvaccinated, and those patients are occupying the majority of ICU beds as they experience more severe symptoms of the disease.
To date, 84.9 per cent of the province’s population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Provinces however do not keep socioeconomic or race-based data about who has or hasn’t received their vaccines, and several health equity experts say there is evidence some vulnerable people who are not anti-vax have fallen through the cracks due to the systemic barriers they may face with accessing the shots.
Some of those barriers are lack of mobility, homelessness, poverty and lack of education, lack of status or medicare card, language barriers, people who can’t navigate online platforms, the elderly, the isolated, racialized communities who have been hesitant because of historic vaccine and health injustices, and more.
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This comes as hospitals in Quebec are being forced to delay surgeries and medical appointments in order to transfer staff to COVID-19 patients’ care instead.
Gaudreault’s federal counterpart, Jean-Yves Duclos, went even further this week, saying a potential compulsory vaccination is “the only way out” of the health crisis, but noted the decision lies in the hands of the provinces.
Gaudreault said he backs Quebec’s future requirement for third doses in order to hold a vaccine passport, stating in Friday’s letter that the measure should take effect faster “and cover a vast set of shops and public places.”
Earlier this week, the provincial government announced its plans on making three doses a requirement to qualify for a vaccine passport and be considered adequately vaccinated.
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That new measure, however, won’t come into effect right away to give people the time to get their booster shot.
The Quebec government also announced that proof of vaccination will be necessary to make purchases at Quebec’s liquor (SAQ) and cannabis (SQDC) retailers starting Jan. 18.
Health officials said the provincial government also plans to add non-essential services, “such as personal care,” to the list of businesses requiring the vaccine passport.
A date for when the new rule will come into effect has yet to be determined as discussions are ongoing with service industry providers.
–with files from Annabelle Olivier, Global News, and the Canadian Press
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