Vaccination sites are already operational in the Montreal area, and older residents will line up on Monday to get their vaccinations.
Online and telephone registration began last week for those in Montreal aged 85 and over to schedule appointments for vaccinations, and administration of the first doses started over the weekend.
All Quebec regions are now scheduling appointments for people over 85. And in Montreal and Laval – areas considered by the province as priorities for vaccination – the minimum age to be eligible for an appointment has been reduced to 70.
The opening of mass vaccination centers – notably at the Palais des congrès and the Montreal Olympic Stadium, each with the capacity to administer 3,000 vaccines per day – has been taking place for just over a year since the first known case of COVID-19 was detected in the city.
To book an appointment for a COVID-19 vaccine, you can access the quebec.ca/covidvaccine online portal or call 1-877-644-4545.
Ginette Senez, director of CIUSSS du Center-Sud-de-l’Île-de-Montréal, said that the Palais des congrès is ready to receive thousands of elderly people.
“We really want to invite people to come and get vaccinated,” she said on Radio Canada Tout un matin.
The elderly will be asked to disinfect their hands and will answer a series of questions when they arrive. They will also be monitored for any side effects for 15 minutes after receiving the injection.
“The light at the end of the tunnel is waiting for us. The more we vaccinate, the better our chances of reducing outbreaks and the number of cases – and of saving lives, ”she said.
‘They make you feel very comfortable’
Rosa Shields, 71, got her vaccine on Friday with her 95-year-old mother in Montréal-Nord. As a primary caregiver over 70, she was already eligible to make an appointment.
“I was really ecstatic, like wow. I was really, really happy about it,” Shields said in CBC Montreal’s Aurora.
Her worries about going to a shopping center, instead of a clinic, to get the vaccines quickly subsided when she was warmly greeted and employees ensured that customers kept physical distance from each other.
“They make you feel very comfortable,” she said. “It wasn’t like you were packed like sardines.”
She said it took about an hour for the entire process to be completed. And with the vaccine came a feeling of relief – and the best night’s sleep she has had in a long time.
“It was very, very exciting. Even when he was giving it to me, I felt something had been taken away,” said Shields, adding that it has been difficult to deal with the isolation and see those she knew dying from the disease.
“Even my mother felt more protected,” she said.
Both Shields and her mother are feeling healthy and have their second dose scheduled for May.