Ontario working on plan to vaccinate children 12 and older
Posted May 5, 2021 3:42 pm.
Last Updated May 6, 2021 8:20 am.
Ontario’s health minister says the province is “actively” working on a plan to vaccinate children aged 12 and older following Health Canada’s approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech shot for that age group.
Speaking on Wednesday, Christine Elliott did not provide a firm timeline only confirming that the Ford government was progressing towards something more concrete.
“We want to make sure that our young people are protected from COVID as well,” Elliott said. “We’ve already been in conversations, discussions with the Minister of Education, to make sure that we can start as soon as possible.”
The Health Minister said the plan could see children aged 12 and older offered their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine in schools, with a second dose given before the new school year begins in September.
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Canada is one of the first countries in the world to start vaccinating children with the shots starting on Thursday for those 12 and up in the Northwest Territories.
Alberta won’t be far behind with plans to start vaccinating children on Monday.
“Outside of the northern territories, Alberta is the first province to offer vaccines to everybody 12 years of age and older, no matter where they live or what medical conditions they have,” said Premier Jason Kenney.
Manitoba is aiming to have everyone eligible to book an appointment by May 21.
Johanu Botha, a co-lead of the province’s vaccine group, says appointments will be extended into early June.
Once the first round of doses is done, the province aims to start administering second doses and have that done near the end of July.
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A trial of more than 2,200 youth aged 12 and up in the United States recorded no cases of COVID-19 among vaccinated kids.
The trial used the same size doses, and the same two-dose requirement, as the vaccine for adults.
Elliott added that Ontario was also working to ensure education workers are able to get a second shot of a COVID-19 vaccine before September.
All schools are currently teaching classes online as the province remains under a stay-at-home order imposed due to high COVID-19 rates.
The latest developments come as Ontario expects to receive large vaccine shipments, mostly from Pfizer.
The province is expected to receive over four million of those doses in May and more than 3.7 million in June.
Ontario is also now expecting an additional shipment of approximately 388,000 Moderna doses in May.
With files from the Canadian Press
