Covid vaccine: a look back at the historic day

The kick-off of a historic vaccination campaign on Monday marked a turning point in Quebec, the country, and the United States by nourishing the hope of a return to normal life, while all eyes were on the first people to receive their dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

9:30 AM: THE FIRST IN NORTH AMERICA

In front of the cameras at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, a large hospital in Queens, New York, intensive care nurse Sandra Lindsay yesterday became the first American to be vaccinated against the Covid vaccine, shortly before 9 a.m. 30.

IN THE MORNING: THE VACCINE ARRIVES IN QUEBEC

The staff of the Integrated University Health and Social Services Center (CIUSSS) of the Capitale-Nationale took possession of the first doses yesterday at the CHSLD Saint-Antoine, in Quebec Covid vaccine. Immediately, the teams began the vaccine preparation protocol, which is 95% effective, according to the pharmaceutical company Pfizer.

10:15 a.m .: TOUR DE MONTRÉAL

On board a UPS company truck, two shipments of 975 doses each were delivered around 10:15 a.m. to the Maimonides Geriatric Hospital Center in Côte-Saint-Luc, on the island of Montreal, under the watchful eye of the media.

11:45 a.m .: FIRST CLERK IN QUEBEC

Danielle Marceau (right), attendant at the Saint-Antoine Accommodation Center in Quebec City, is the first CHSLD employee to have been vaccinated by nursing assistant Nadia Khodja.

MORNING: PRECIOUS CONVOY

The pharmacist at the CIUSSS du Center-Ouest-de-Île-de-Montréal, Wangoi Chen, delicately takes out the precious doses from the box, stored at -70 degrees Celcius, at the Maimonides Geriatric Hospital Center.

MORNING: STORED AT – 70 ° C

This “ordinary” looking freezer keeps vials at -70 degrees Celcius at the Maimonides Geriatric Center. Once the doses have been placed there, they cannot be moved to keep them stable, according to the requirements of Pfizer and BioNTech. You can only take them out, thaw them and administer them.

MORNING: DELICATE PREPARATION

Wangoi Chen is busy reconstituting the vials with sodium chloride (NaCl) before their contents are administered by the nurses. Pharmacists are the only ones who can take them out of the freezers and prepare them.

12:00 p.m .: SECOND IN CANADA

Anita Quidangen, a patient care attendant who has worked at the Rekai long-term care center in Toronto since 1988, became the first person in Ontario at around noon yesterday and the second in Canada, after Quebecer Gisèle Lévesque, to receive a first dose to be immune to the coronavirus.

12:40 PM: THE PREMIERE IN MONTREAL

Gloria Lallouz, 78, a resident of the Maimonides Geriatric Hospital Center, was the first Montrealer to be vaccinated. Nurse Hossein Mansouri handled this delicate task. About 150 seniors, or nearly half of CHSLD residents, were to receive their dose against the Covid vaccine yesterday.