COVID-19: More Moderna vaccines allow Quebec to speed up second dose appointments

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More Moderna vaccines will allow Quebec to accelerate its timeline for second doses, Health Minister Christian Dubé said, after Ottawa on Wednesday announced it expected to receive seven million doses of that vaccine this month.

“Thanks to this announcement, we can quickly move second doses ahead for those who have received Moderna,” Dubé tweeted, adding that Quebec is still waiting for delivery details from the federal government.

Last week, Quebec said people can rebook their vaccination appointments after it shortened the interval between first and second doses of the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines.

But on Monday, Dubé said only people who had received the Pfizer vaccine would be able to reschedule their appointments due to limited supplies of the Moderna and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines.

READ MORE: Quebec reports 178 new COVID-19 cases, 8 more deaths as hospitalizations drop

On Wednesday morning, the Health Department said Quebec was expecting to receive 21,700 doses of Moderna this week.

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According to Quebec’s public health institute, 66.9 per cent of residents — and 76.5 per cent of those over 12 — have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine. About 9.4 per cent of residents are adequately vaccinated: either they received two doses or have had the disease and received a single dose, the institute said.

Meanwhile, Quebec reported 178 new cases of COVID-19 Wednesday, the fourth consecutive day health officials have reported fewer than 200 new infections. Officials also reported eight more deaths attributed to the novel coronavirus, including one within the previous 24 hours.


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COVID-19: Legault says all of Quebec will move into yellow zone on Monday


COVID-19: Legault says all of Quebec will move into yellow zone on Monday

The Health Department said hospitalizations dropped by six from the day before, to 257, and the number of intensive care patients remained unchanged at 60.

Health officials said 74,208 doses of vaccine were administered Tuesday, adding that 20,137 COVID-19 tests were completed that day. The positivity rate was 0.8 per cent — the first time since last August Quebec’s test-positivity rate dropped below one per cent, Dube said.

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