Seven residents of the Maimonides Geriatrics Centre in Côte Saint-Luc have tested positive for COVID-19, just a month after receiving the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine.
The long-term care facility broke the news to families in a newsletter dated Tuesday.
“The recent COVID positive residents have all received their first dose of the COVID vaccine and were infected within the first 28 days after their first dose,” the letter obtained by Global News read.
“We are working closely with Infection Prevention Control and Public Health to analyze the situation and have shared with them all pertinent information on these cases. They are performing a detailed analysis of the situation, and an action plan will be established.”
Maimonides Geriatrics Centre isn’t the only long-term care facility to be experiencing this problem. A report from the Journal de Montréal indicates that Gisèle Lévesque, a resident of the CHSLD Saint-Antoine in Quebec City contracted the disease in recent weeks. The 89-year-old became the first Quebecer to get the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in the province last month but still hadn’t received her second dose before contracting the virus. The Journal says she experienced symptoms around two weeks after receiving her first dose. Lévesque says she is quickly recovering and feeling better now.
Pfizer has stated that everyone requires two separate doses to achieve 94-95 per cent immunity and recommends the second dose be given 21 days after the first. However, Quebec’s current plan is to vaccinate long-term care residents for the second time 12 weeks after they received their first dose— a controversial decision that has been making headlines over recent weeks.
On Wednesday, a spokesperson for Pfizer Canada told Global News in an email “there is no data to demonstrate that protection after the first dose is sustained after 21 days.”