Megaphone trucks to encourage vaccination
In what feels like an almost medieval development, megaphone trucks will be circulating in town this weekend, encouraging people 55 and over to go get the AstraZeneca vaccine. Christian Dubé says the announcement will be in several languages.
mare 16:56 on 2021-04-16 Permalink
Can’t they just call/text/write them? The RAMQ has everyone’s age and address (and probably telephone number too, I forgot if that was an item on those renewal forms), and also has records if people already went for their AstraZeneca.
Kate 17:01 on 2021-04-16 Permalink
They have to reach people who don’t have internet, or at least reliable access, people without landlines and whose phone numbers aren’t available anywhere, people whose French and English are shaky or nonexistent, asylum seekers and people whose immigration status is doubtful and are not signed up with the RAMQ.
I doubt this truck will be traversing Westmount or TMR, but it will probably do Park Ex, St‑Michel and Montreal North.
mare 17:16 on 2021-04-16 Permalink
According to Christian Dubé on Twitter:
1/2
Ce w-e à Mtl, plus de 20K doses d’AZ sont dispos avec et sans rdv.
J’ai demandé au réseau de faire des interventions ciblées dans certains quartiers.
EX : Ouest-de-l’Île et Côte-des-Neiges ➡️ camion-crieur annoncera en plusieurs langues ouverture de cliniques mobiles.
jeather 18:44 on 2021-04-16 Permalink
Irritatingly the first article on this did not mention the age rules and wow did I get my hopes up for a while.
Ephraim 09:35 on 2021-04-17 Permalink
Not everyone who is eligible wants AZ. Some people who have pre-existing conditions want the higher protection of Pfizer or Moderna. And I’m sure that there are those under 55 who want AZ and accept the higher risk. (And the symptoms are explained, so you can get it treated.) So, I know a few people who are just waiting for them to go to the next stage. Heck, I know people that have asked the government to call them if there is a last minute shot available.
There is a handle https://twitter.com/VaxHuntersCan that posts about national availability windows.
Raymond Lutz 15:33 on 2021-04-17 Permalink
Has anyone some data about the adverse effect risks of AZ? All I found is this (March 30):
“these data suggest that the reported number of thromboembolic events among Europeans who have received the Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine (at least those reported as deriving from the venous system) does not seem to be increased relative to the expected number estimated from incidence rates from the entire Danish population before the introduction of the vaccination programme.” [ source]
IIRC the factoids sheet distributed on site, over 55 the (alleged, uncorroborated) thrombosis risk of AZ is lesser than health risks associated with contracting covid so it’s a go, NOT that the risk in itself is lesser for older people. At so much low level, I think some health agencies freaked out over statically insignificant glitch buried in random noise.
Kevin 12:36 on 2021-04-18 Permalink
The risk of thrombosis/blood clots from AZ and Janssen is equivalent to the risk of blood clots/thrombosis from an overseas flight.
And it’s a heck of a lot lower than the risk of clots from medication that a lot of people take every day.