The Director of Public Health Dr. Luc Boileau said people aged six months to four years from Quebec will be able to receive Moderna’s Spikevax mRNA COVID-19 vaccine starting Monday.
Speaking at a press conference on COVID-19 on Thursday, he said there are 70,000 doses available for Quebec’s youngest residents.
The vaccine was approved by Health Canada last week.
Along with Boileau, Dr. Nicholas Brousseau, public health specialist at the National Institute of Public Health of Quebec (INSPQ) and secretary of the Quebec Immunization Commission.
Brousseau said parents should feel confident giving their young children the shot.
“The dose is lower, so it has a very good safety profile,” he explained.
He urged parents to make their appointments as soon as possible, highlighting the fact that infants and toddlers are more susceptible to complications from COVID-19 than older children – although he acknowledged that these complications are relatively rare.
“I think parents will naturally [make] the best decision to protect their children,” he said.
“They will understand that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.”
Vaccines will be available through vaccination centers and CLSCs.
APPROACH TO ‘PLATEAU’ IN CASES: BOILEAAU
As Quebec battles the seventh wave of the pandemic, fueled by the Omicron BA.5 subvariant, Boileau said the rate is expected to reach a “plateau” in the future. That doesn’t mean case numbers are going down, he said, but they are predicted to stabilize soon — though he couldn’t say exactly when. “We know that in the next few days we will confirm whether this plateau will occur,” he said. Boileau noted that while there are many people in the hospital with COVID-19 — 2,110 as of Thursday — not all were admitted because of the virus itself. On Thursday, the province reported 20 new deaths from COVID-19 and 53 more hospitalizations. There are currently 7,349 health workers absent for reasons related to COVID-19.
NO RESTRICTIONS ANNOUNCED
There are no plans to restore public health measures for COVID-19, Boileau said. Although the BA.5 variant is highly contagious and prevalent in Quebec and elsewhere in the world, its symptoms do not appear to be more severe than previous iterations of Omicron. “We live in a new world” when it comes to COVID-19 in which health measures are largely left up to the individual, he said. However, he advised all Quebecers to remain vigilant about hand washing, social distancing and, most importantly, vaccinations, including booster shots. “If it’s been five, six months since you got vaccinated, go get vaccinated. It’s time,” he said. Although masks in public are no longer mandatory, they are still encouraged in some cases because they are “a tool that is very useful,” especially when it comes to the elderly or immunocompromised, he said. The public was reminded Thursday that the virus is contagious for up to 10 days after infection.
title: “Quebec Children Are Eligible For The Covid 19 Vaccine As Of July 25 " ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-12” author: “Robert Jacobi”
The Director of Public Health Dr. Luc Boileau said people aged six months to four years from Quebec will be able to receive Moderna’s Spikevax mRNA COVID-19 vaccine starting Monday.
Speaking at a press conference on COVID-19 on Thursday, he said there are 70,000 doses available for Quebec’s youngest residents.
The vaccine was approved by Health Canada last week.
Along with Boileau, Dr. Nicholas Brousseau, public health specialist at the National Institute of Public Health of Quebec (INSPQ) and secretary of the Quebec Immunization Commission.
Brousseau said parents should feel confident giving their young children the shot.
“The dose is lower, so it has a very good safety profile,” he explained.
He urged parents to make their appointments as soon as possible, highlighting the fact that infants and toddlers are more susceptible to complications from COVID-19 than older children – although he acknowledged that these complications are relatively rare.
“I think parents will naturally [make] the best decision to protect their children,” he said.
“They will understand that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.”
Vaccines will be available through vaccination centers and CLSCs.
APPROACH TO ‘PLATEAU’ IN CASES: BOILEAAU
As Quebec battles the seventh wave of the pandemic, fueled by the Omicron BA.5 subvariant, Boileau said the rate is expected to reach a “plateau” in the future. That doesn’t mean case numbers are going down, he said, but they are predicted to stabilize soon — though he couldn’t say exactly when. “We know that in the next few days we will confirm whether this plateau will occur,” he said. Boileau noted that while there are many people in the hospital with COVID-19 — 2,110 as of Thursday — not all were admitted because of the virus itself. On Thursday, the province reported 20 new deaths from COVID-19 and 53 more hospitalizations. There are currently 7,349 health workers absent for reasons related to COVID-19.
NO RESTRICTIONS ANNOUNCED
There are no plans to restore public health measures for COVID-19, Boileau said. Although the BA.5 variant is highly contagious and prevalent in Quebec and elsewhere in the world, its symptoms do not appear to be more severe than previous iterations of Omicron. “We live in a new world” when it comes to COVID-19 in which health measures are largely left up to the individual, he said. However, he advised all Quebecers to remain vigilant about hand washing, social distancing and, most importantly, vaccinations, including booster shots. “If it’s been five, six months since you got vaccinated, go get vaccinated. It’s time,” he said. Although masks in public are no longer mandatory, they are still encouraged in some cases because they are “a tool that is very useful,” especially when it comes to the elderly or immunocompromised, he said. The public was reminded Thursday that the virus is contagious for up to 10 days after infection.
