Latest Safe Schools Saskatchewan town hall focused on vaccines and children

Wednesday night’s Safe Schools Saskatchewan town hall was an opportunity for the public to learn more about COVID-19 vaccines.

According to moderator Tenille Lafontaine, nearly 200 people participated in the virtual event.

Three Saskatoon pediatric doctors — Dr. Ayisha Kurji, Dr. Mahli Brindamour and Dr. Madhav Sarda — served as panellists during the event which presented an opportunity for people to submit questions related to COVID-19, vaccines and children.

“Even if children have mild illnesses, this disrupts their lives so much because they miss school and activities while their parents miss work,” Brindamour stated during the chat.

“There’s so much stress on the family. This is very disrupting to children’s lives.”

One of the topics covered during the virtual meeting revolved around vaccines for children younger than 12 years old, the youngest age of eligibility for a COVID shot.

Saskatchewan doctors say approval for children ages five to 11 to get the COVID-19 vaccine is coming, which might be news that leaves some parents feeling hesitant.

One question posed during the town hall asked why youth were not part of the initial COVID-19 vaccine rollout.

Kurji clarified that vaccine trials focused on older populations first since the virus mostly affects adults.

“Kids were done later because they weren’t getting as sick, so they were lower on the priority list of getting the vaccine,” Kurji said. “It doesn’t mean that it’s any less safe. It’s just that their testing was done later because they weren’t the priority.”

Sarda said that a child-specific vaccine rollout is still on the sidelines as the officials await approval from Health Canada.

He said Health Canada has to look through the data first and ensure safety before anything moves forward.

“I think most of us are anticipating kind of like the end of October or early November for approval rates, presuming the data looks good,” Sarda said.

Safe Schools Saskatchewan said people who weren’t able to join the town hall or have more questions can find more information on their Facebook page.