Increased Demand for First Dose After Quebec Requires Vaccine Passport for SAQ and Cannabis Stores

Appointment bookings, which averaged 1,500 a day, soared to 6,000 on Thursday following the health minister’s announcement.

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Requests for appointments to receive a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine spiked just hours after the Quebec government announced that the vaccine passport would be required to access provincial liquor stores and cannabis outlets.

Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé noted the spike on his Twitter account on Friday morning.

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Dubé wrote that while the average daily appointment request for the first dose had been about 1,500, that number rose to 6,000 on Thursday.

While he did not mention it in his post, the increase coincided with the minister’s announcement on Thursday that, as of January 18, a vaccine passport will be required to purchase in person at Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ) stores. and Société québécoise. cannabis sales outlets (SQDC). Dubé said the decision to impose a vaccine passport requirement in these locations was prompted by the continued rise in COVID-19 cases due to the highly contagious Omicron variant. He also said that a vaccine passport would eventually be required for other “non-essential” services, but did not immediately specify when and where the policy would take effect.

Dubé noted that half of hospitalized COVID-19 patients in the province are not vaccinated even though they represent only 10 percent of the population.