Covid-19: Unvaccinated queue up for shots as Canada’s Quebec levies health tax
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: This is what other countries should also follow: impose health tax on the unvaccinated people to force them to take the shots!
The government of the French-speaking Quebec province in Canada has announced to penalize the unvaccinated. Although it is yet to reveal the details of the penalty to be levied, Premier Francois Legault said it would represent a “significant amount”.
“We are working on a health contribution for all the adults who are refusing to get vaccinated,” because they represent a “financial burden for all Quebecois,” Legault told a press conference.
“It is not on all Quebecois to pay for that,” he said.
A day after the announcement, the unvaccinated rushed to register themselves.
Health Minister Christian Dube said on Wednesday the number of appointments for the first dose of vaccine spiked within hours, the media reported.
“It’s encouraging!” he tweeted, showing that the appointments for the first vaccine dose continue to increase.
The number of appointments for the first vaccine dose increased from nearly 7,000 on January 11 to 9,000 the next day. All age groups sought these appointments, he said.
Earlier, Premier Legault had announced a new health tax to be levied in the coming weeks on unvaccinated individuals.
The province is struggling to control the highly contagious Omicron variant of coronavirus. The government said the unvaccinated remained a burden on its public health system.
While Quebec has administered the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine to 90 percent of its eligible population, Legault stressed that the remaining 10 percent of Quebecois must not harm others.
