BREAKING: 2,000 Quebecers to get the COVID-19 vaccine next week

In a press conference this afternoon, Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé followed up the federal government’s announcement about the COVID-19 vaccine this morning by presenting the province’s rollout plan. Dubé said that, pending this week’s expected approval of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine by Health Canada, 4,000 doses are expected to arrive in Quebec (specifically in Montreal and the Montérégie region) on Monday, Dec. 14, representing enough doses for about 2,000 people (as each person needs two) in the first week alone. Residents of CHSLDs will be prioritized.

There will be 20 vaccination sites in Quebec: one in each region, with three extra in Montreal and one additional site in Montérégie. Health authorities expect to administer 100,000 vaccines per week for the first three months, before ramping up as additional influxes of doses arrive thereafter.

Dubé added that 1.1 million Quebecers have received the flu shot over the past month (that’s 250,000 per week), and the system used to organize that immunization campaign has been “a dry run” for the COVID-19 vaccine rollout in Quebec.

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