More than 7,000 people registered for their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine Tuesday, amid threats by Quebec officials to tax the unvaccinated.
"Our highest in several days," tweeted Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé, noting that 5,000 appointments were also made on Monday. "This is encouraging."
Dubé notes the appointments were made across all the age groups, and 107,000 doses of vaccine were administered Tuesday alone.
The same day, Quebec Premier François Legault announced the province will impose a "significant" penalty on people who refuse to be vaccinated against COVID-19 for non-medical reasons.
Legault called the measure a "health care contribution," adding that he is in consultations with his finance minister and legal advisers to determine how much the fines could be.
The premier already argued $50 or $100 "is not significant" enough for him.
The tax would apply to all adults in Quebec who refuse to get their first dose of a vaccine "in the next few weeks." People with medical exemptions will not be subject to the tax.
The unvaccinated "will have a bill to pay because there are consequences on our health care network and it's not up to all Quebecers to pay for this," Legault insisted. "It's a question of equity because right now, these people are putting a very important burden on our health care network and I think it's normal that the majority of the population is asking that there be a consequence."
Les prises de rdv pour la 1ère dose continuent d’augmenter. Environ 5K rdv ont été pris le 10 janvier et 7K hier, notre record depuis plusieurs jours. Les rdv ont été pris dans toutes les tranches d’âges.
C’est encourageant! — Christian Dubé (@cdube_sante) January 12, 2022
Last week, the province announced it would also require Quebecers to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination to access Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ) and Société québécoise du cannabis (SQDC) stores.
This new measure will come into effect on Jan. 18.
"I hope this will be an additional incentive for some to go get their first dose," Dubé said. "The vaccination passport will be extended to certain non-essential commerces in the coming weeks and we'll come back with a list after we have talked to the industries."
Tuesday, 62 more people died because of COVID-19.
There are currently 100,448 active cases in Quebec. Hospitalizations have risen to 2,742 and ICU numbers have increased to 255.
Outside_Classroom_38 on January 13rd, 2022 at 13:36 UTC »
All the people here commenting on “fines” and “government mandates” don’t seem to understand how Canadian healthcare works.
Everyone pays into the healthcare “fund” through taxation. When you need medical attention you walk in and get it for free whenever you feel like it. Canada isn’t a huge country so COVID has been extremely expensive for such a small population. If you want to continue to be unvaccinated in Canada (specifically Quebec) you just have to pay into a separate “fund” to help your fellow antivaxxers in the event that they (or you) need COVID related medical attention.
It’s too much to ask vaccinated people to pay for the treatment of antivaxxers and the programs that make the vaccine free and available to all. The choice is still there
mikeyt6969 on January 13rd, 2022 at 05:08 UTC »
This will happen in the US soon enough but it’ll be by the insurance companies instead.
DiachronicShear on January 13rd, 2022 at 00:32 UTC »
We do about 60 shots a day at my in pharmacy. Yesterday 10 of them were first doses. None of them wearing a mask when they came to check in, none of them had one. The fucking worst.