REGINA — Saskatchewan says it will offer COVID-19 vaccines for children under five starting Friday.
REGINA — Saskatchewan says it will offer COVID-19 vaccines for children under five starting Friday.
Health officials on Wednesday said the province had received 13,000 doses of Moderna’s Spikevax vaccine for children aged six months to five years.
They said due to limited supply, the province is first opening appointments to those at high risk of severe outcomes from COVID-19.
Parents who have an immunocompromised child can book the vaccination from Thursday with other eligible children from the same household.
Appointments for everyone else open on Friday when they will start the injection.
Last week, Health Canada approved the use of Spikevax for children, making it the first vaccine approved for the age group.
Saskatchewan’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer has encouraged all parents to get their children vaccinated against COVID-19 as soon as possible.
“There was a significant number of our youngest population in the province who had not had access to vaccines until now,” said Julie Kryzanowski.
“Fortunately, the majority of children with COVID-19 have mild or asymptomatic disease, but some children – even those who were previously healthy – can develop severe disease and require hospitalization.”
Saskatchewan health officials said there are 77,000 children between six months and five years of age in the province who are eligible for the vaccine.
Sheila Anderson, vaccine operations manager for the health authority, said the next batch of vaccines for the age group would arrive in August.
She said Canada is expecting a second shipment of about 660,000 doses, but is not sure at this time how many will be distributed to Saskatchewan.
“I think it’s all our responsibility to get vaccinated and to encourage our loved ones to get vaccinated and to have those conversations,” Anderson said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on July 20, 2022.
Mickey Jurich, The Canadian Press
Add Comment