MONTREAL (REUTERS) – Police in the Canadian province of Quebec are searching for a man they suspect of punching a nurse in the face for giving his wife a Covid-19 vaccine without his consent, a police spokesman said on Wednesday (Sept 22).<\/p>\n
The man confronted the female nurse on Monday morning in the office of a pharmacy in the city of Sherbrooke, about 155km south-east of Montreal, where she was assigned to administer vaccines, police spokesman Martin Carrier said by phone.<\/p>\n
“Our suspect went directly into the office and began to yell at the nurse,” Carrier said.<\/p>\n
The man appeared to be very shocked that his wife was vaccinated at the pharmacy “without his authorisation”, and hit the nurse in the face, Carrier added.<\/p>\n
Nurses globally have faced cases of abuse along with suffering burnout on the job in the long fight against Covid-19, health advocates say.<\/p>\n
It was not clear whether the suspect opposed vaccinations or whether his wife had in fact been inoculated at the same pharmacy, Carrier said.<\/p>\n
Anti-vaccine protests across Canada ramped up in the run-up to this week’s federal election, with some demonstrations targeting schools.<\/p>\n
Protesters had drawn the ire of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the campaign trail for targeting hospitals and healthcare workers, and he has vowed to crack down on such actions.<\/p>\n
Quebec Premier Francois Legault said on Wednesday his government would try to get a special law passed as early as Thursday to stop anti-vaccine protesters from demonstrating close to schools and hospitals or face fines.<\/p>\n
“My patience has reached its limit,” he told reporters in Quebec City.<\/p>\n
“I think it’s important to leave our children and patients in peace.”<\/p>\n