One day after the Canadian province of Quebec announced it would financially penalize residents who are unvaccinated, the province’s health minister said [January 12] first-time appointments spiked in the hours following the announcement.
“It’s encouraging!” Quebec’s health minister, Christian Dube, tweeted, indicating that [January 11] first-dose appointments were the highest in several days.
The fine for the unvaccinated would not apply to those with a medical exemption, and no details have been announced, although officials said the amount to be levied would be “significant.”
The Quebec government says that while nearly 90% of eligible Quebecers have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, the unvaccinated remain a burden on the province’s public health system.
Canadian Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos added that while the new penalty in Quebec could not violate Canada’s health laws, vaccination is the way out of the pandemic and mandates have been a useful tool in Canada.
“We have also demonstrated at the federal level that vaccine mandates work, 99% of public servants, almost 99% of public servants at the federal level are either fully vaccinated or soon to be fully vaccinated,” Duclos said at a news conference in Ottawa.
