Waterloo Region Aims to Have COVID-19 Vaccine Available for Children 5-11 Years Old by Christmas | The Canadian News

Given that Health Canada approved the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for children ages five to 11 on Friday, the Waterloo Region Vaccine Distribution Task Force hopes to have a needle in all arms of the age group by Christmas.

“I would suggest that it will take us two to three weeks to get all those children through our clinics, our primary care offices, our pharmacies, and I hope everyone has had a chance to get the first dose before the Christmas season,” he said. Vickie Murray, head of the region’s vaccines working group.

There are about 48,000 children in that age group in the area and, earlier this week, Murray told the Board of Health that 50-70 percent of the age group (between 24,000 and 36,000 children) are expected to you will want to get vaccinated quickly. .

He said people will have to be patient, as Friday’s approval was only the first step in the vaccination process for children ages five to 11.

“Next, we are awaiting the provincial leadership and of course we must await the delivery of the new Pfizer infant vaccine in our region,” said Murray.

Murray said the first doses of Pfizer will take about a week to reach the area.

“We are awaiting final details on when it will arrive here in the Waterloo region,” he told reporters on Friday morning.

The region said parents will not be able to book appointments for children in that age group until it receives further guidance from the province.

“As soon as we receive these updates and deadlines, we will make an announcement regarding the appointment times and availability for children ages five to 11,” Murray said.

“I would like to ask that people not rush to the vaccine clinics (Friday) because Health Canada approval has been announced as we do not yet have the vaccine for children here in our community and our freezers.”

Once the vaccine arrives, he said he hopes it will be available at area clinics and pharmacies, as well as family doctors.

“In addition to that, we are going to do outreach activities in some of our local schools and we are still finalizing the details and we hope to have that information for you as well,” said Murray.

“However, we are not going to stop there, because I believe that the reach and the ease of access are very important. So we will continue to look for opportunities on top of that that could be easier or make the vaccine more accessible to our entire community. “

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