Children between the ages of six months and five years old are now officially eligible for their COVID-19 vaccine in Saskatchewan.
“It kinda feels like the world forgot about the under fives when we opened up and they still couldn’t be vaccinated so it’s a massive relief.”
That was the comment from Dacey Grogan, who was able to get her nine month old daughter Brigid, her first COVID-19 vaccine Friday morning.
Aside from a tear or two right after the shot went into her leg, she handled it very well.
“Yeah she’s fine.. she cried for about two minutes and she’s totally over it,” Grogan said with a laugh.
As of 8 a.m. Friday morning, bookings for the vaccine opened up online at COVID-19 Vaccination | COVID-19 Vaccine | Government of Saskatchewan.
The province received a supply of around 13,000 doses of the vaccine in its first delivery on Thursday. A second shipment is expected to arrive in August, though the arrival date is not available yet.
Grogan said the roll out of Moderna’s shot for kids under five is lifting a weight off her chest.
“It feels like the moment we’ve been waiting for since she was born,” she said.
According to SHA, more than a thousand appointments were booked by 9 a.m. Friday.
Doctors say these shots come at a good time, with signs COVID-19 is on the rise again.
“We are seeing people in hospital, we are seeing people infected, wastewater shows levels are going up and there are places that have declared another wave,” said Dr. Ayisha Kurji, a pediatrician in Saskatoon.
Kurji said families should feel confident kids are getting the same level of protection as adults with their vaccine, as research has progressed through the different waves.
“It provided the same level of immune response as it did in the adults, which should tell us that the level of protection should be just the same as it was for (adults),” she said.
In Saskatchewan, pharmacists will not be able to provide immunizations for children under five. Rather, they will receive their vaccine via an SHA partnering agency provider.
This is the first COVID-19 vaccine approved for children below five, who until now could not be immunized against the virus. The vaccine will be administered in two doses, and a second dose can be provided 28 days after receiving the first dose.
This means children under five will have to get two shots to be considered fully vaccinated.
SHA said there are 70,000 children aged six months to four years in Saskatchewan that will need around 35,000 doses to match the uptick of the population of older children that has already been eligible.
Children who have had COVID-19 should wait eight weeks before getting the shot.
Immunocompromised children should wait four to eight weeks between infection and between doses and other children should wait eight weeks between doses.
And while the pandemic isn’t over, Kurji said this moment is a monumental one in the fight against COVID-19 with nearly the entire population now eligible to be vaccinated.
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