COVID-19: Police in Canada hunt man who punched nurse in the face after she gave his wife vaccine
Police said the man was agitated that the jab had been given to his wife "without his authorisation", before he hit the nurse in the face.
Wednesday 22 September 2021 19:38, UK
Police in Canada are searching for a man they suspect punched a nurse in the face for giving his wife a COVID jab without his consent.
The man confronted the female nurse on Monday morning in the office of a pharmacy in Sherbrooke, southeast of Montreal, Quebec, where she had been administering vaccines.
"Our suspect went directly into the office and began to yell at the nurse," police spokesman Martin Carrier told Reuters news agency.
He said the man was agitated that the jab had been given to his wife "without his authorisation", and he proceeded to hit the nurse in the face.
It was not clear whether the suspect opposed vaccinations or whether, in fact, his wife had even been inoculated at the same pharmacy.
Nurses globally have faced cases of abuse, along with suffering burnout, while working through the pandemic.
Anti-vaccine protests across Canada ramped up in the run-up to this week's federal election - narrowly won by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal Party - prompting the province of British Columbia to lock down schools.
Mr Trudeau criticised anti-vaccine protesters for targeting hospitals and health care workers on the campaign trail. He has vowed to crack down on such actions.
According to Reuters, Canada has administered at least 55,307,095 doses of COVID vaccines so far - enough to have fully vaccinated about 73.6% of the country's population.
Nevertheless, infections are rising, with 4,373 new infections reported on average each day. Although this is still half of where cases were at the nation's peak on 17 April.