As B.C. students head back to class, low COVID-19 vaccination rates among youth are raising alarm bells for some.
“It is very concerning, because this is the fourth school year that’s been affected by COVID, but this is the first school year that kids are going to be going in with essentially no other protections,” Vancouver family physician Dr. Anna Wolak told Global News Tuesday.
“There will be no masks, no distancing, so the one protection our kids have is going to be vaccination.”
Vaccine uptake in B.C. has been particularly low among younger children.
Just over 58 per cent of kids aged five to 11 in B.C. have had one dose of pediatric vaccine, while slightly more than 46 per cent have had two doses.
Compare that to Newfoundland and Labrador, where 82.5 per cent of kids in the same age group have had one shot and 66 per cent have had two doses.
BC Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau said she believes the low numbers are a reflection that COVID communication from the government has “disappeared off the radar.”
She said the Omicron variant has proved to be severe enough to elevate fatality levels and long COVID and airborne transmission remain serious risks.
“And yet we hear nothing from this government and this public health officer,” she said.
“It’s all on you, go get a vaccine, without the collective response we need from government and public health. We’re going to be trapped in this place for a long time.”
Furstenau said getting kids vaccinated needs to be much easier, and pitched holding vaccination days at B.C. schools, along the lines of other common childhood immunizations like measles, mumps and rubella.
“It shouldn’t be different. And by making it different the government is signalling something that I think people are wondering about at the very least,” she said.
While provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry has signalled little interest in at-school vaccine clinics, it’s an idea Wolak agreed should be looked at.
“We do need to make it easier for parents to get their kids vaccinated,” she said.
“It also has the kids in a place they know with friends, with people they know. This works for other public health vaccines … there’s no reason it shouldn’t work for COVID vaccines.”
Wolak also agreed that provincial messaging around vaccination has been confusing.
Many parents mistakenly believe they should wait for an Omicron-specific formulation of the vaccine, when in fact that advice is only for adults, she said.
The government is also competing with an online disinformation campaign that vaccines are harmful, she added.
“It’s getting bigger, it’s getting stronger, it’s getting louder,” she said.
“The only counter to that is if parents could please talk to their trusted medical advisor, their family physician, their nurse practitioner, their pediatrician, their local pharmacist — talk to them about any concerns they have and hopefully we can alleviate those concerns, because the vaccines are safe and effective.”
The B.C. Teachers’ Federation is also raising concerns that the low vaccine numbers could put both staff and students at risk.
Union president Cliff Johnson said the province’s strong early communication efforts around the importance of vaccines has wavered, and that it needs to renew the campaign directed at parents.
He also urged parents shifting into back-to-school mode to prioritize immunization.
“Please take your child in and get them vaccinated,” he said.
“We know it’s a great way to prevent the transmission of COVID, we know it minimizes COVID when you do catch it, and we know your child is going to be around a lot of other students their age as well.”
The provincial government is working on a campaign aimed at the increasing the vaccination rate for elementary school-aged children, that’s expected to roll out in the coming weeks.
Officials say they expect the numbers will inevitably rise, as families settle in to their routines.