For a week now, toddlers from 6 months to 4 years old have had access to the vaccine against COVID-19. Enthusiasm does not seem to be there in Estrie, however.

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In the region, 4,000 meeting slots are available, but just over 300 have found takers. Of this number, about half of toddlers received their vaccine last week, more than 160 children.

Asked about the reasons for this non-vaccination, most parents claim to have been vaccinated themselves, but fear the effect on their offspring. Fears that must be dispelled according to pediatric infectious disease specialist Dr. Jesse Papenburg of the Montreal Children's Hospital.

“The Covid vaccine is no more dangerous than all the other vaccines expected at their age.”

Vaccination in vacation mode

The slowdown in the vaccination campaign is possibly linked to the start of the construction holidays.

The rate of vaccination of the general population had been sustained since the beginning of July. In Estrie, 3,135 doses were administered in the week of July 3, 3,921 the following week and 3,894 in the week of July 17. But when the construction holiday started, only 661 doses were injected into an Estrie arm.

It is therefore expected that the rate of vaccination will resume in the coming weeks. But until then, whether for the first dose of the infant or a booster dose, the nine vaccination centers in Estrie are ready to welcome the population.