Public health officials in Quebec held a press conference on COVID-19 on Wednesday, urging people to stay up to date with their vaccinations.

Health Minister Christian Dubé and Public Health Director Dr. Luc Boileau began the press conference at 1:00 p.m. Wednesday in Montreal.

On Wednesday, Quebec released its latest data, which showed that COVID-19 hospital admissions surpassed 2,000 for the first time since mid-August.

Meanwhile, the rate of Quebec residents keeping up with their booster doses is low.

Only 22 percent of eligible residents are up to date with their vaccinations, meaning they received the vaccine within the past five months.

The rate drops to only seven percent for Quebec adults under 40 years old; 17 percent for those aged 40 to 59 years.

Dubé said he is encouraged by the higher rate among target populations: 39 percent for those aged 60 to 79 years; and 52 percent for those aged 80 and above.

Dubé said, "There is nothing better than being up to date with your vaccination to protect yourself from the COVID virus," calling on people to take personal responsibility for updating their boosters, saying that people know when they got their last vaccine or when they last had COVID-19.

Boileau added, "For anyone who has never had COVID-19 before, if five months have passed since your last booster dose, it is time to get another dose."

As a reminder, a total of 16,845 Quebec residents have died from COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.