Minister Christian Dube said that the general public should get the vaccine “near the end of May,” noting also that pharmacists now have the “flexibility” to vaccinate their clients under the age of 60 who suffer from chronic diseases.
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Given the quantities of available vaccines, the Minister of Health remains confident that the current vaccination for categories 8 and 9, meaning those with chronic diseases and essential workers, will be completed by the end of next month.
Therefore, “We will be able to go to the general public,” Minister Dubey said, during a press conference in Busville, on Thursday noon.
The government’s goal remains to introduce the first dose to the entire adult population by June 24.
Mr. Dobby also left the door open to the possibility of offering the AstraZeneca vaccine to age groups other than those aged 55 and over.
The minister said, “Be patient for a few days,” explaining that Public Health is working on that now.
Minister Dubey also defended on Thursday the disappointment of patients with chronic diseases aged 60 and under who had not yet been able to make an appointment. It relies on pharmacists to vaccinate those with chronic diseases from among their clients, but they are not hospitalized or followed up on an outpatient basis.
As reported on our pages, many of them do not understand why they were not vaccinated as a priority, when this is what public health has allowed them to hope for since the beginning of winter.
When asked to comment on the example of a 30-year-old woman suffering from diabetes, Mr. Dubey indicated that “the pharmacist who gives her the medicine can make a decision to vaccinate her.”
“We have to go there. The pharmacist can make that decision.
The minister said that he had held “discussions during the past 24 hours” on this subject after he indicated that the list of chronic diseases published last December “puzzled” people.
A little earlier in the Blue Salon, he defended himself against letting chronically ill patients who are disappointed that they cannot get a vaccination at the moment.
“Can the minister admit that he misled the chronically ill,” said Liberal MP Mary Monpetet.
The minister responded by saying, “The opposition that enters politics in this sensitive situation,” insisting that it only follows the order of priorities it has set and reviewed by the public health.
