MONTREAL — Public health officials in Quebec plan to administer the first COVID-19 vaccines today.
Residents of two long-term care homes in the province will be the first to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
Francine Dupuis of the Montreal regional health agency says health-care workers have been ready to administer the doses at Maimonides Geriatric Centre since Friday.
Dupuis says the agency expects to receive 1,950 initial doses, which will first go to residents, to Maimonides staff and then to health-care workers in other long-term care homes.
In Quebec City, residents of the Saint-Antoine long-term care home will receive the vaccine first, followed by health-care workers at that facility.
Officials say they hope the vaccine will help protect the most vulnerable people in the province while bringing the pandemic under control.
Quebec reported 1,994 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, as well as 33 additional deaths linked to the virus — bringing its total to 163,915 infections and 7,508 deaths since the pandemic began.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 14, 2020.