Ottawa’s kids continue to roll up their sleeves at a rapid rate, with more than a third of those aged five to 11 in the city now inoculated with a first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Ottawa Public Health’s COVID-19 dashboard shows that more than 26,000 kids born between 2010 and 2016 have so far gotten a shot, representing 35 per cent of the age group in the city.
Ottawa continues to outpace other regions in Ontario in vaccinating the youngest eligible demographic.
The next closest public health unit is Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox & Addington, which reports that just under 33 per cent of kids have their first doses, according to provincial data.
OPH says 87 per cent of all Ottawa residents aged five and older now have at least one shot of the vaccine.
OPH also took to Twitter on Monday to debunk misinformation that claimed a child in Ottawa had died after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine.
The health unit said both its database of adverse vaccination effects and coroner reports confirm no child has died as a result of a vaccination. It encouraged residents to carefully consider information online before sharing it widely.
Ottawa is also making progress in administering third doses of the vaccine, largely to the city’s oldest demographics. The city has administered 63,418 booster shots as of Monday morning, more than half of which have gone to those aged 70 and older.
OPH meanwhile reported 55 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday.
The number of active cases of the virus in Ottawa is up to 431, compared with 363 on Friday.
There are now seven people in hospital with COVID-19 in Ottawa, however, down from 10 before the weekend. Two patients are still in intensive care.
There are currently 28 active COVID-19 outbreaks in Ottawa, 16 of which affect elementary schools.