Canada Started vaccination against children aged 5-11 years COVID-19 Wednesday, joined a handful of countries, including Israel and the United States, in offering shots for this age group.
At Montreal’s convention center, a few dozen young people were among the first to receive an authorized Pfizer dose for this age group since last Friday.
Additional measures have been taken to help reduce their fear of needles, such posting stickers of unicorns or hockey players on partitions between nursing stations, longer appointments than adults, and pet dogs.
“I wasn’t really scared, but I was tense,” 10-year-old Victor told AFP, holding a coloring page in his hands with the words “Bravo, you got your vaccine.”
By his side, his mother Mathilde explains that he felt “excluded” from his family, the only one who had not yet been vaccinated against Covid-19.
For him, it makes sense to vaccinate his son, if only to be able to “get together” and “hug his grandparents” without fear.
“We are privileged, clearly,” said Yanochka LeBros, a doctor and mother of two vaccinated children.
Appointments for children are increasing in Quebec as the government gives the green light to pediatric vaccination, “which is an indicator that the response of the population is really excellent,” commented Jean-Nicolas Aubé, a spokesman for Montreal health officials.
On Twitter, Quebec Premier Francois Legault was pleased Wednesday morning to learn that 115,300 appointments were made in a matter of hours. “It is together that we can make a difference!” he said.
In neighboring Ontario, a handful of children were vaccinated on Tuesday in Toronto due to early delivery of doses. Canada’s most populous province is set to officially launch its campaign on Thursday.
“This is the first time in Canada and thousands of children in Toronto are getting the best protection they can against COVID-19 in the coming weeks,” Toronto Mayor John Tory said in a statement.
On Wednesday the mayor appeared at a clinic with Polkaru, a green kangaroo-like character from a local children’s television show, to announce that more than 31,000 children’s vaccines have been administered so far.
Canada has one of the highest vaccination rates in the world against COVID-19, with more than 85 percent of those over the age of 12 rolling up their sleeves twice.
Health Canada on Wednesday approved Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine for use in people 18 years of age and older.
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