Vaccinators are twiddling their thumbs while Quebecers shun AstraZeneca’s vaccine, for which many time slots are available.
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“I am able to vaccinate a patient every 5 minutes, but I find myself vaccinating 20 of them throughout my day,” laments a private sector professional who came to lend a hand in Montreal.
- Listen to cardiologist Dr Éric Sabbah on the many time slots to fill for vaccination
Since February, she and about sixty of her colleagues “are going crazy to stay seated on their chairs”, waiting for patients to be vaccinated.
“No company would accept a loss of money like this,” is convinced this injector often paid to play Sudoku for lack of work.
While several rushed to receive a dose of AstraZeneca last week, calm seems to have returned to the vaccination centers.
“Until now, the vaccination seems to me … ineffective”, adds Charles (not her real name).
Employed in another vaccination center west of Montreal, he also testifies on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
- Listen to Yasmine Abdelfadel’s column at Richard Martineau’s microphone on QUB radio:
Two doses per day
The young man reports having injected only two doses during a shift, since they were about thirty employees for “less than 10 patients per hour”.
Richard Sauvé, 56, who received the AstraZeneca vaccine yesterday, was also surprised to see only three patients at the Bill-Durnan arena, in the Côte-des-Neiges – Notre-Dame-de borough. -Thanks to Montreal, when he visited around 11 a.m. yesterday.
“There were 60 nurses waiting for me. I couldn’t believe it, especially in the situation we are in! He exclaims.
Other vaccination centers temporarily empty in Saint-Jérôme and Brossard were among others reported to the Journal.
However, it was impossible to confirm the facts, because several of our requests for interviews with the health network went unanswered.
The low traffic observed could be explained by the lower popularity of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which some Quebecers over 55 still fear despite the low risks.
Who’s next ?
At the Integrated Health and Social Services Center of Nord-de-l’Île-de-Montréal, for example, only around 100 doses of AstraZeneca are dispensed these days, even though many appointments are available. .
In Laval, only 322 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine were injected yesterday, out of a possible 2,200.
Even in Beauce, where cases are increasing, between 700 and 800 doses of this vaccine were still waiting for a taker at the Saint-Georges vaccination center at the end of the afternoon.
“People are a little afraid of the AstraZeneca vaccine. We can feel it. However, we could vaccinate more ”, regrets Cary Paquet, head of the said vaccination center.
The newspaper has also spotted on the Clic Santé reservation site a very large number of time slots available the same day or in the coming days to receive the AstraZeneca in the greater Montreal area.
– With Olivier Faucher and Le Journal de Québec
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