B.C. parents can book COVID-19 shots for kids five to 11 starting Monday

B.C.’s long-anticipated rollout of COVID-19 vaccinations for children aged five to 11 will get underway next week.

Parents and caregivers who’ve registered their children through the province’s Get Vaccinated website will start to receive their invitations to book their shots on Monday, Nov. 29. Doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine will also start to be administered the same day.

Invitations from the province will be sent out in the same order children were registered. As of Tuesday, 91,000 of the 360,000 eligible children in B.C. were already signed up.

If a guardian has more than one child, they can bring all eligible kids at the same time, provided each family member is booked at the same clinic for the same day. 

Verbal consent from a parent or legal guardian is required for kids aged five to 11 at the time of vaccination. If an adult is chaperoning a child to their immunizations, written consent from their legal guardian is needed.  

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The pediatric Pfizer vaccine is formulated for children in that younger age group.

Kids will only be considered eligible for a shot if their fifth birthday has passed. The province adds “11-year-olds will receive the pediatric vaccine and when they turn 12 they will receive the adult vaccine.” 

This means if an 11-year-old receives the pediatric vaccine for their first dose and then turns 12 within the eight-week timeframe between doses, they will get the adult dose for their second.

Vaccine Clinics 

Local health authorities will be hosting clinics for all children aged five to 11. Pharmacies will only administer shots to those aged 12 and up. 

Small family clinics will also be available and dedicated to five to 11-year-olds and their immediate families who come with them. Dr. Penny Ballem, who is overseeing the COVID-19 vaccine rollout in B.C., explains these will not be available throughout the province, “but we’re going to try and use them strategically in communities where we’re concerned about making sure we reach the five to 11-year-olds and their parents.” 

Appointments are required. Drop-ins won’t be available for pediatric vaccines. 

Ballem says that’s because the healthcare system, making drop-ins difficult.

“So we’re asking that people make an appointment … and please avoid drop-in that can result in queues and children waiting longer, which is not a good thing when they’re coming to get vaccinated.” 

Health canada said doses should be min 21 days
NACI deemed 8-wks optimal duration between doses for longest/strongest response.
BC will not require ppl delay any vaccine (Health canada recommended 14 days for determining cause of any adverse effects)#bcpoli @CityNewsVAN #covid19

— LizaYuzda (@LizaYuzda) November 23, 2021

If your child is not signed up yet, parents and guardians can register kids at Get Vaccinated BC to receive an invitation to book a time. The province opened the registration system weeks ago, in order to be ready to deliver the vaccines as soon as they received federal approval. 

If your child is anxious about shots, the province is assuring families that healthcare providers at family clinics are trained and experienced in childhood vaccinations including shots for measles, mumps, and flu. 

Read More: Needle-phobic kids need support during COVID vaccination: psychologist

On-site supports for children and a calm private space for families that need it will also be available. For children with special needs, the province is working with community and stakeholder groups on ways to make them as comfortable as possible.

Small and remote communities 

Schedules for small and remote community clinics are being made. Specific information can be found at local health authority websites. 

For children in remote First Nations communities, the First Nation Health Authority and the local health authority will come to the community to offer pediatric vaccination to children 5 to 11. The province says this will most likely be done at the same time boosters are being offered to adults over 18 years old and first and second doses are being administered for those over 12 years old. 

In other small and/or remote communities, the health authority will be offering boosters to adults 18+ as well as Dose 1 pediatric vaccine to children 5 to 11. 

Vaccine tailored to 5-11-year-olds 

Young children’s immune systems are more responsive compared to older people, Henry explains, which is why five to 11-year-olds will receive a smaller and tailored dose. 

This third-dose (10 micrograms) gives just as strong immune response in younger children as the adult formulation, according to Henry. 

“That’s the amount of antigen that was needed to give the same degree of a strong response, as we saw in adults.”

Henry adds the “optimal interval” recommended by the National Advisory Committee is eight weeks between doses one and two. She says this extended interval gives stronger and longer-lasting protection. 

Out of caution, she is also recommending that other vaccines for this age group is not given within 14 days of the pediatric vaccine. But with the flu season upon B.C. Henry adds, “We don’t want to make children wait to receive this vaccine, given the rates of transmission we’re seeing and we don’t want children not to be protected for some of the other vaccine-preventable illness, particularly influenza.” 

“So while we’re not going to be giving them together for the most part, we will not be requiring people to delay either one vaccine, whether it’s influenza or the Pfizer pediatric vaccine … or if they’ve recently received one of their booster doses for the school-based vaccination programs, things like meningitis or MMR. We won’t ask them to delay receiving their COVID-19 vaccine as well.” 

Cases in kids 5-11 are decreasing Dr Henry says but kids can get very sick (latest numbers below).
19 in BC have been admitted to hosp with mis-c here.#bcpoli @CityNewsVAN #covid19 pic.twitter.com/QcDaIvJ1bE

— LizaYuzda (@LizaYuzda) November 23, 2021

CityNews is hearing from listeners about this next stage of B.C.’s vaccine rollout.

Jamie Locke lives in North Vancouver and has kids aged five and eight. He says while he is a “little nervous” about the new dose, “we’re gonna do what’s expected of us.”

Despite some hesitation on his part, Locke says it is important to get the vaccine to as many people as possible.

Georgia Garoufali is in North Vancouver and her child will be getting the shot as well.

“It is definitely a new vaccine that maybe has not been tested as much but in general, technology and science have been advancing rapidly over the last 20 years and we do give our children and ourselves all kinds of vaccinations required.”

Garoufali expects she will feel a sense of relief after her child has had a shot and a couple of weeks have past.

While some parents describe some hesitation, but most say they ultimately think so — they will follow the medical advice and ensure their family members are protected.

Diane Chen also lives in North Vancouver and her 11-year-old girl will be getting the shot.

“If you keep thinking about ‘what if’s’ there’s no end to it … This is a solution to us kind of getting over COVID.”

B.C. records 324 COVID-19 new infections, one death Tuesday

On Tuesday, B.C. reported 324 new cases, including 102 in the Fraser Health region

One COVID-related death was recorded in the Northern Health region for a province-wide total of 2,304 since the pandemic began.

There are 345 people hospitalized with the novel coronavirus, up from 337 the day before. The number of people in the ICU is unchanged at 115.

According to the province, 90.9 per cent of eligible people aged 12 and up have received their first vaccine dose, while 87.4 per cent have received their second.

From Nov. 15 to Nov. 21, the province says people not fully vaccinated accounted for 58.4 per cent of cases. It also says from Nov. 8 to Nov. 21, they accounted for 69 per cent of hospitalizations.

When it comes to the pediatric vaccine, the province emphasizes immunizing children is vital to protecting them from the spread of COVID-19, adding this will also “help kids and their families safely return to many activities that positively benefit children’s physical and mental health.” 

Vaccines also reduce the risk for children with higher risk of severe illness due to age or underlying medical conditions. 

Cases in kids 5-11 are decreasing Dr Henry says but kids can get very sick (latest numbers below).
19 in BC have been admitted to hosp with mis-c here.#bcpoli @CityNewsVAN #covid19 pic.twitter.com/QcDaIvJ1bE

— LizaYuzda (@LizaYuzda) November 23, 2021

In the last report from the province, B.C. reported cases of transmission was increasing in the middle of September and into October for children aged five to 11. But in the past the week, Henry said the province has seen a decrease in the number of children infected with COVID 19 particularly in the five to 11 age group. 

While most children will not experience severe disease from the virus, Henry says “children are not immune.” 

“Hospitalizations remain rare as to deaths, but they are not non-existent.” 

Over the past few months, the Interior Health and Northern Health regions have seen dramatic increases in cases and hospitalizations, with kids under 12 years of age impacted. But in recent weeks Henry says “we’re starting to see decreases of those in those areas.” 

Vaccine risks are very rare DBH says mostly allergic reactions
mRna technology is not new to science even though new in vaccinations.
Doses are 10 mg because kids mount much greater immune responses & that's all needed to get same response as adults.#bcpoli @CityNewsVAN #covid19 pic.twitter.com/BwUrUejW9i

— LizaYuzda (@LizaYuzda) November 23, 2021

Henry adds the rates of COVID-19 in 12 to 17-year-olds who are not vaccinated are dramatically higher than those children who are vaccinated. 

“It really shows us how well this vaccine is protecting people of all ages against transmission of this virus.” 

For caregivers hoping for more information and resources on the pediatric vaccine, the a province-wide public information campaign has been created in a joint effort by the BC Public Health, BC Ministry of Health, Health Authorities, the BCCDC, and health care providers and community partners across the province. 

On Friday, Health Canada announced the vaccine was approved, weeks after the vaccine submitted its youth vaccine data for review on Oct. 18.