Darnya Schemenauer has been following the news about Saskatchewan’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout closely.
“She’s been asking a lot of questions, constantly asking, ‘Is it approved for me yet or not?'” said the shy 12-year-old’s dad, Evan Schemenauer, Wednesday afternoon.
“She’s was looking forward to it for certain,” he said.
Darnya, who has Type 1 diabetes, is immunocompromised and has had to be extra careful over the past year of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Saskatoon girl been doing her schoolwork online and not socializing with her friends in person, said her dad, who got vaccinated last week. Her mom is getting vaccinated this week.
“We could still potentially pass it along to her,” her dad said. “To hear the news that she could finally get vaccinated — that she can finally get vaccinated — in the next month, hopefully, that’s going to change everything for us.”
Health Canada announced Wednesday morning that the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is both “safe and effective” for use in the 12 to 15-year-old age group, making the country the first in the world to extend approval to children.
While Saskatchewan’s health ministry told Global News in a statement that it’s still reviewing the new guidance and examining the integration of the expanded age range into the province’s immunization plans, Premier Scott Moe said details would be coming Thursday. He also noted that schools could be involved.
“Public health does offer a vaccination program in our school system already, and so they are familiar with what they need to do to deliver these vaccines,” the premier told reporters. “All of our kids are in schools for the next month or two and so there is an opportunity there.”
Other provinces appear to be moving faster. The premier of Alberta, a jurisdiction seeing high rates of infection and hospitalization right now, said that as of Monday, “every single Albertan over the age of 12 will be eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.”
Schemenauer said he hopes that his daughter and others in the new, expanded age range with underlying health conditions, will be prioritized.
“It would be preferable that somebody in her condition may be sped up,” he said, “but we respect the process and when her time comes, we will be signing up that morning.”