B.C. to provide rollout plan for kids COVID-19 vaccines

Parents and caregivers are expected to have more information Tuesday afternoon into B.C.’s vaccine rollout for children aged five to 11.

A news conference is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. with B.C. Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and the executive lead for B.C.’s immunization efforts, Dr. Penny Ballem.

The update comes after Health Canada approved use of the Pfizer-BioNTech (COMIRNATY) vaccine for children in that age cohort on Friday, and the government of Canada said it would have enough doses for every eligible child in the weeks to come.

Health Canada says the modified shot is 90.7 per cent effective and is safe. The vaccines are the same mRNA technology as the one for adults but in a smaller dosage. The doses are about one-third the size given to adults and teens aged 12 and up.

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Over the weekend, the first shipment of the 2.9 million doses secured arrived in Canada and efforts began to distribute the vaccines to the provinces and territories.

In B.C., Henry hinted those shots could begin rolling out as early as this week, and would be ready to go as soon as they arrived.

Unlike the distribution for adults, there could more clinics set up in schools and the shots will likely not be available in pharmacies.

“We’ve heard from families that they really wanted to be in family-friendly clinics and it can be challenging to do that for younger children in a pharmacy,” Henry said last week in an interview with CityNews. 

She added that the vaccines are key to ensuring a return to normalcy.

“Children have been so affected by the disruptions in their lives — having to get tested every time they have the sniffles, having to be isolated from the activities that they need in life. Pandemics are bad for kids. This is one of the things that help us get through the pandemic,” she said.

Registration already open

Parents and guardians are urged to register kids to receive an invitation to book a time. As of Friday, 75,000 children as young as five — 21 per cent of the cohort — are signed up in B.C.

The province had opened the registration system weeks ago, in order to be ready to deliver the vaccines as soon as they received federal approval.

There are 360,000 children in B.C. who were not eligible until now because they were too young.

“While children are at a lower risk of severe disease from COVID-19, it can still result in serious outcomes in some children, including hospitalization and long-term symptoms,” the province wrote Friday.