Authorities to vaccinate 500 homeless against COVID-19 in Montreal – Montreal Gazette

Authorities to vaccinate 500 homeless against COVID-19 in Montreal – Montreal Gazette

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Faced with a rising number of COVID-19 cases among Montreal’s homeless, authorities plan to vaccinate 500 people who live on the streets in the coming days, and that number could ultimately rise to 2,000, the head of the city’s public health department announced Wednesday.

“The inclusion of the homeless in the vaccination campaign at the moment we’re speaking is because we have major outbreaks in this community,” Dr. Mylène Drouin said, noting that COVID-19 clusters have been reported among eight organizations that care for this vulnerable population.

“When we’re looking at the potential groups, we could go up to 2,000, but at the time we’re speaking with the first priority groups, we’re going to vaccinate around 500 of them. We already have a proportion of them who have COVID-19, so we’re not going to vaccinate” those individuals.

The announcement came after appeals by the Old Brewery Mission, Welcome Hall Mission and the Maison du Père to inoculate the homeless as quickly as possible. Public health officials have identified 114 COVID-19 cases among the homeless and 58 among workers who care for them.

Published at Wed, 13 Jan 2021 21:11:15 +0000