Public health officials in Quebec plan to administer the first COVID-19 vaccines, potentially as early as Monday, after the first doses landed in Canada Sunday evening.
Residents of two long-term care homes in Quebec will be the first to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in the province.
Francine Dupuis of the Montreal regional health agency says health-care workers have been ready to administer the doses at Maimonides Geriatric Centre since Friday.
Dupuis says the agency expects to receive 1,950 initial doses, which will first go to residents, to Maimonides staff and then to health-care workers in other long-term care homes.
Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé and Dr. Richard Massé, the province’s public health strategic medical adviser, will be on-site at Maimonides on Monday at 1 p.m., according to a press release.
In Quebec City, residents of the Saint-Antoine long-term care home will receive the vaccine first, followed by health-care workers at that facility.
Officials say they hope the vaccine will help protect the most vulnerable people in the province while bringing the pandemic under control.
Quebec reported 1,994 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, as well as 33 additional deaths linked to the virus — bringing its total to 163,915 infections and 7,508 deaths since the pandemic began.
© 2020 The Canadian Press
