The number of new doses administered has increased considerably in recent weeks, in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, especially since the new bivalent vaccine is available.
If the vaccination campaign is rather slow in various regions of Quebec, this is not at all the case in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean.
The citizens of the region seemed to be waiting for the arrival of the bivalent vaccine to bring their booster dose.
“Our population always responds better than the rest of the province. Those in CHSLDs and RPAs, we even have, I would say, the most protected people in Quebec. We are really ahead, we are even the first! “, noted the regional head of vaccination, Marc Thibault.
Before the arrival of the bivalent vaccine, nearly 3600 doses were administered each week. If this figure still seemed in the average when the new vaccine entered service on September 9, the increase was very strong the following week: a total of 5435 doses were received.
“We still increased by 42%. There is also the rule of 5 months since the last vaccine and some people may have been waiting for a more effective vaccine even if the vaccines we have had so far have allowed us to protect ourselves properly. And it is also thanks to our mobile vaccination which worked constantly during the summer and continuously with our resources, both CHSLD and RPA. We can be very proud of our mobile vaccination and of our employees,” said Mr. Thibault.
The bivalent is better adapted to the variants in circulation and makes it possible to educate our immune system to better recognize several attackers.
“We do not yet have any results measured on its effectiveness, it is at least equal if not superior to the vaccine we already have,” explained Dr. Thibault.
According to studies consulted by Public Health, the bivalent vaccine would allow the body to produce 1.6 times more neutralizing antibodies against the Omicron variant than other vaccines.
The new vaccine is primarily aimed at people aged 30 and over. People under the age of 30 can access it provided they provide informed consent, since it is less necessary for this age group, which is less likely to develop complications from contracting the virus.
“It’s quite easy to get an appointment and even go without an appointment for people who want it,” added the head of vaccination.
Even though it is only offered under the Moderna banner, more will soon be approved and ready to counter the new variants.
“We know that there is a bivalent Pfizer which is about to be authorized on the B1. There is another one which is also coming on BA.4 and BA.B5”, he detailed.
Although the flu was much less present last year, it seems to be much more so this year. The seasonal flu vaccination campaign will begin on October 5 in the region.
Health authorities want to educate people who will get their dose against influenza so that they take the opportunity to get their booster dose against COVID-19.
“It will be twinned on the same sites, as we did last year. We have a population that has always responded to flu vaccines so we invite them to make an appointment quickly. We have a capacity of 15,000 vaccines in the region per week, so vaccination will be easily accessible,” concluded Mr. Thibault.
Now that the average weekly doses administered have risen to 5,000 in the region, authorities hope to double or even triple that number.