A few days before the implementation of the vaccine passport, a few thousand opponents of health measures demonstrated on Saturday in Montreal, including several health workers who are keen on not being vaccinated.
Marching for some in uniform, these employees say they prefer to take unpaid leave rather than be vaccinated by October 15, the date on which the Legault government intends to oblige it for nursing staff.
“I’ve been working with people who have COVID for a year and a half and I’ve never had it,” said a nurse from the Center hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal, who did not want to be identified.
Photo QMI Agency, Mario Beauregard
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In favor of health instructions and vaccination, Dr François Marquis is exasperated to hear health professionals make such a speech.
“People in the health care system should be the advocates for immunization. It sends a double message to the population and we really don’t need it, ”thunders the head of the intensive care unit at Maisonneuve-Rosemont hospital in Montreal.
Always effective
The Dr Marquis insists on recalling that the vaccine is essential in order to come to the end of the fourth wave of the pandemic and to avoid a new containment.
That various studies show that the vaccines lost in effectiveness with the arrival of the Delta variant is not a valid argument, according to this doctor.
Photo QMI Agency, Mario Beauregard
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“Reduced efficiency does not mean lack of efficiency,” he illustrates. It is quite normal for a vaccine to lose its effectiveness over time. The tetanus vaccine lasts 10 years, the vaccine in order not to be sick in the South is only good for a few months. ”
Still, around 60,000 health workers are not vaccinated, Health Minister Christian Dubé said this week.
Photo QMI Agency, Mario Beauregard
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If they decided to leave the network, the effect would be felt in hospitals in these times of labor shortages, admits Dr.r Germain Poirier.
“But do we have to bend under the pressure?” I do not think so. The vaccine is necessary if we do not want to end up intubated, ”continues the head of intensive care at Charles-Le Moyne hospital in Longueuil.
More likely to go to the hospital
According to figures from mid-August, just under 5% of doctors were not double inoculated.
Organizer of the Saturday demonstration, the Dr Robert Béliveau is one of the few to say loud and clear that he has never received a single dose.
Photo QMI Agency, Mario Beauregard
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“I have faith in my immune system and the vaccination doesn’t have the necessary hindsight right now. Everyone has the right to their own assessment, ”proclaims this retired general practitioner, president of the Réinfo Covid Quebec group.
However, an unvaccinated person is currently 22.5 times more likely to be hospitalized than a perfectly vaccinated person, according to Public Health, which also identified 604 new cases on Saturday in Quebec.
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