(Montreal) As of Wednesday, just 56% of Quebecers aged five and older had received a third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, a proportion that has been unchanged for months as Quebec prepares for a new vaccination campaign ahead of a possible further wave of infections this fall.
Posted at 6:24 am
Morgan Lowrie The Canadian Press
Government officials believe the reluctance to get a booster dose is because millions of Quebecers have contracted the novel coronavirus and feel adequately protected.
Health experts, meanwhile, say pandemic fatigue and government communications have also played a role.
dr Don Vinh, an infectious disease specialist at McGill University Health Center (MUHC), believes that the Quebec government should have advertised booster doses more heavily over the past six to eight months, rather than relying on advertising at the time of the current wave of COVID-19 is declining. In his opinion, “more people would have been protected and all the consequences of the infection would have been avoided in recent months”.
Jason Harley, associate professor in the Department of Surgery at McGill University, believes many people have shifted to a “post-COVID mentality” that is causing them to stop listening to public health advice. After two years of the pandemic, concern has turned to overconfidence. “It has a lot to do with pandemic burnout,” he said in an interview.
“It’s been over two years and there has been a tremendous amount of anxiety that many people have had to live with on a day-to-day, sometimes hour-to-hour basis,” added Jason Harley, who also has a PhD in psychology.
The challenge, he says, is convincing people to continue protecting themselves and listening to guidelines, which requires connecting with people through clear, easy-to-understand public health messages. It’s not always easy when people are on different timelines and entitled to memories at different stages of the pandemic.
Health and Social Care Minister Christian Dubé acknowledged on Tuesday that recall rates had fallen but largely attributed the phenomenon to the fact that many people have contracted COVID-19 in recent months.
He told a press conference that 88% of the most vulnerable age group, those over 60, had received their third dose. Still, he said all adults should get a booster if it’s been five months or more since their last vaccination, or three months since they were infected with the novel coronavirus.
Minister Dubé announced on Tuesday that vaccination appointments will open for people aged 60 and over next week and on August 29 for everyone aged 18 and over. Quebec on Monday began offering residents of long-term care homes (CHSLDs) and private senior living facilities (RPAs) a fifth dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Caroline Quach-Thanh, a microbiologist and president of Quebec’s immunization committee, reported at the same press conference that there was a possibility that newly developed vaccines could offer longer-lasting immunity. Current offerings offer good protection, “but in terms of durability, the long-term answer isn’t there,” she said.
dr Vinh believes Quebecers will need to get used to the idea of getting vaccinated regularly against COVID-19, at least for a while. Vaccines are still very good at protecting against serious illness and death, he said, but it’s now clear that people need regular boosters to maintain their immunity.
While some people may be fed up with the process or believe there are too many vaccines, people should think of vaccines like any other drug, said Dr. Vinh. “There are medicines that you give every day, two or three times a day, because the effect of the medicine is wearing off and it’s time for the next dose. ”
Another microbiologist commended the Quebec government’s recall action and in particular the decision to abandon the terms “fourth” or “fifth” vaccine dose in favor of calculating the time elapsed since the last injection. Anne Gatinol discovered “that people just won’t do it unless they are encouraged to do it”.
This McGill Professor of Experimental Medicine and Dr. Vinh agree that the government is doing the right thing by offering booster doses to all people 18 and older, even though some jurisdictions like the United States limit them to the elderly and vulnerable.
Health experts are noting that young people can still get very sick from COVID-19, although they are less likely to die from it, and they say vaccines can help protect individuals and health systems.