Health Minister Christian Dubé announced that pharmacies in Quebec will soon be allowed to administer the COVID-19 vaccine during a press conference Tuesday.
Dubé said the province reached a deal with pharmacies to start giving doses by mid-March. The focus is on Montreal, however, as the health minister believes the city could be “the calm before the storm.”
There is a growing number of variant cases in the area, mainly the B.1.1.7 mutation, or the UK variant. Dubé also reminded Quebecers to be patient with the online appointment system and not to show up early for a vaccine appointment.
The latest data on the evolution of COVID-19 in Quebec shows 588 new cases, which brings the total number of people infected to 288,941. According to the public health authority website, 271,156 people have recovered.
There were eight new deaths, pushing the total to 10,407 — there was one death in the last 24 hours. There was an increase of 16 hospitalizations, bringing the total to 628 and 121 people are in intensive care, which is down by one.
The province administered 16,458 doses of vaccine for a total of 455,328. Quebec has received 537,825 doses to date. There is also a total of 137 confirmed variant cases in the province and 1,095 presumptive cases.
In the Eastern Townships, the CIUSSS de l’Estrie – CHUS noted an increase of 24 new cases in the region, bringing the total to 11,585. There are no new deaths reported in the Townships; the total remains at 303. There remains only one variant case.
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