diff --git a/.github/workflows/publish-on-tag.yml b/.github/workflows/publish-on-tag.yml
index fc953565..65a0d1ad 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/publish-on-tag.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/publish-on-tag.yml
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ jobs:
           npm publish
           DEPRECATED_RANGE=$(node utils/get_deprecated_version_range.js)
           echo "Deprecating old puppeteer versions: $DEPRECATED_RANGE"
-          npm deprecate puppeteer@\"$DEPRECATED_RANGE\" "Version no longer supported. Upgrade to @latest"
+          npm deprecate puppeteer@$DEPRECATED_RANGE "Version no longer supported. Upgrade to @latest"
       - name: Publish puppeteer-core
         env:
           NPM_TOKEN: ${{secrets.NPM_TOKEN_PUPPETEER_CORE}}
diff --git a/utils/get_deprecated_version_range.js b/utils/get_deprecated_version_range.js
index a0603c3d..280bbf8a 100644
--- a/utils/get_deprecated_version_range.js
+++ b/utils/get_deprecated_version_range.js
@@ -18,10 +18,13 @@ const {
   versionsPerRelease,
   lastMaintainedChromiumVersion,
 } = require('../versions.js');
-const version = versionsPerRelease.get(lastMaintainedChromiumVersion);
+let version = versionsPerRelease.get(lastMaintainedChromiumVersion);
 if (version.toLowerCase() === 'next') {
   console.error('Unexpected NEXT Puppeteer version in versions.js');
   process.exit(1);
 }
-console.log('< ' + version);
+if (version.startsWith('v')) {
+  version = version.substring(1);
+}
+console.log('<' + version);
 process.exit(0);