Alberta Teachers Association Hopes Pfizer Vaccine for Children Will Smooth Bumpy School Year | The Canadian News

The last year and a half in many Alberta schools has been brutal.

“There were a lot of cases, a lot of people were getting infected and that was changing people to having to work online, back to school,” said Jason Schilling, president of the Alberta Teachers Association.

Dr. Tehseen Ladha said that schools have driven community transmission of COVID-19.

“School is one of those situations where there are so many children in a space sharing air in a space for hours on end a day,” Ladha said.

But with Health Canada’s approval of the Pfizer vaccine for children ages five to 11, there is optimism for the remainder of this school year.

“What I think we will see is that roller coaster we had last year with the concern that COVID cases and schools will go online or be online for a week or a class will have to connect, we may not see much of it. that confusion or that disruption throughout the rest of this school year, ”Schilling said.

Schilling said that could help with learning and said teachers are excited about it.

“If we can vaccinate the majority of school-age children, we are in a scenario where there would be a marked decrease in transmission in schools and fewer outbreaks,” Ladha said.

Schilling said the schools could be used as vaccination sites, but at this time, the province said it has no plans for a school rollout.

With the vaccines expected to be available in Alberta next week, University of Waterloo associate professor of pharmacy Kelly Grindrod said education is key for parents and children.

“It is important to talk with children about why we get vaccinated and what is the importance of vaccines and what kinds of conditions we are protecting against because it helps them understand this broader role in public health and what it plays in our lives,” Grindrod said. .

For kids who are afraid of needles or pain, Grindrod said parents can use distractions like headphones and Netflix or a book. There are also anesthetic patches.

“It’s a really exciting time for kids to potentially get back to some kind of normalcy and even fewer school disruptions,” Ladha said.