When Kim Tait saw a tweet from Middlesex-London Health Unit late last week announcing the Pfizer COVID vaccine was available to all kids born in 2009, she knew she had to hurry. Her 11-year-old daughter, Emily, hadn’t been vaccinated yet, because, with a birthday in September, she wasn’t eligible. […]
Kids turning 12 this year in Ontario must keep waiting for the COVID vaccine, despite moves by other provinces
When Kim Tait saw a tweet from Middlesex-London Health Unit late last week announcing the Pfizer COVID vaccine was available to all kids born in 2009, she knew she had to hurry.
Her 11-year-old daughter, Emily, hadn’t been vaccinated yet, because, with a birthday in September, she wasn’t eligible.
“I couldn’t get her there that night but I got the first available appointment the next morning, said Tait, an Oakville resident, recalling her first thought was “this is going to get shut down.”
“Unfortunately that’s just how this rollout has come. It seems very mismatched, different health units doing different things.”
With September fast approaching, parents like Tait are left wondering why all kids in Ontario turning 12 this year aren’t eligible for the Pfizer vaccine, as they are in some other provinces, leaving Grade 7 classrooms partially vaccinated. It’s a discrepancy the short-lived move to open the jab to everyone born in 2009 from Middlesex-London Health Unit highlighted last week.
The shot is being offered to all kids born that year, including those with later birthdays, in Alberta, B.C. and the Northwest Territories. On Monday, officials in Manitoba announced they were following suit. But in Ontario kids have to already be 12.
According to Statistics Canada, 126,498 people were born in the country in 2009 between September and December.
At a July press conference, Dr. Kieran Moore, Ontario’s chief medical officer of health, said the province is following legal advice on how to interpret Pfizer-BioNTech safety trials, which were only done on kids 12 and up. That’s the only vaccine that Health Canada has approved for ages 12-17.
“Part of the licensing for Health Canada was to ensure that you adhere to the randomized controlled trials and the licensing agreements for the vaccine,” he told reporters.
“So it was our interpretation to follow the trials and the science, to be 12 and up. I realize a couple of provinces haven’t done that, but anyone turning 12 will be eligible and we will have vaccine for them this year. But we had to adhere to Health Canada’s recommendations to us.”
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