Two days after COVID-19 vaccine clinics for children aged five to 11 opened on B.C.’s south coast, the Interior Health Authority (IHA) has kicked off its pediatric vaccine rollout.
“We were kind of excited to see what the uptake was going to look like, what the demand is … and we’ve had a steady stream so far today,” said Eileen Smith, one of IHA’s clinic managers.
Smith was managing one of the Kelowna clinics where on Wednesday, the first children aged five to 11 in the health region rolled up their sleeves for a COVID-19 shot.
“It feels good knowing that I am sort of safer from COVID now. I mean getting the shot is better than getting COVID,” said nine-year-old Lemon Green.
The Kelowna girl was vaccinated along with her six-year-old brother.
“I wasn’t sure that we’d be able to get it done before Christmas,” said their dad Hal Green. “I was happy how quickly they could roll it out.”
Green told Global News having both kids vaccinated is a big relief.
“The last two years of not being able to do anything, not being able to visit grandparents and friends and just the number of people getting sick, we just thought it’s important for the whole family and everybody to get the vaccination,” he said.
The pediatric Pfizer dose that children five to 11 are receiving is one-third of an adult dose.
Health Canada approved it on Nov. 19.
B.C. was the last province to start administering it because of distribution challenges linked to the recent flooding and distances to various corners of the province.
According to the provincial government, there are 349,000 B.C. children eligible for the vaccine. At last word, more than 30 per cent were registered to receive a shot.
“They were hoping to do about 3,000 of these kids in the month of December alone here in the Central Okanagan,” Smith said.
Smith said IHA is working with immunizers who are bound to deal with children feeling nervous and scared.
“We’re spending extra time with our nurses – especially those that haven’t spent their career working with children and immunizing children – to make sure that they’re comfortable,” she said. “Some of it is about the language that we use, our approach, how we talk to them and how we support the whole family unit.”
Smith is also encouraging parents to bring their child’s favourite stuffed animal to the clinic, or something they can watch or listen to to help them relax, to make the experience as positive as possible.
“It hurt less than I thought it would,” Lemon Green said.
Parents interested in getting their children vaccinated must first register them online before being able to book an appointment.
Visit the government website for more information or to register your child for a vaccine.
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