According to Nova Scotia’s chief medical officer, the province will start vaccinating Kovid-19 early next year.
Dr. Robert Strong told reporters Thursday that Health Canada is still waiting for a submission from vaccine maker Pfizer. Upon receiving it, regulators should review the submission and make a decision on whether to approve the vaccine.
If approved, the National Immunization Advisory Committee will make recommendations on vaccine use with children.
“Realistically, we can actually start in 2022 before vaccinating children aged five to 11 years,” Strong said. “I would be very happy if this happened a little earlier, but I think for real, it could be the beginning of 2022.”
Read Also
- Tamaulipas coronavirus. Increase contamination from thrown masks Jul 25, 2021
- Vaccination obligation, Ema: “Decision is up to states” Sep 7, 2021
- Laura Spoya to those who question the inoculation against COVID-19: “Thanks to the vaccine I’m fine” Aug 16, 2021
- Conmebol announces donation of 20,000 doses of covid vaccines to Brazil Jul 7, 2021
- Interesting variants and worrying variants of covid-19: what we know May 29, 2021
- Recommendations for Safe and Effective Breastmilk Smoothing Foods Apr 16, 2021
- Who compared COVID-19 with HIV May 14, 2020
Strong said the province plans to vaccinate children through an online booking system, and vaccines are delivered at pharmacies.
Vaccines are not given in schools
She said public health does not have the ability to deliver vaccines to children in schools.
“We need to pull all kinds of people from other parts of the health system to do school-based clinics as we do for community clinics. That’s not realistic,” he said.
Strong said public health has heard concerns from parents about the prospect of vaccinating their children at school.
“They don’t want to be vaccinating their six- or seven-year-old child in school alone. They want to be with their child,” she said.
A spokesman for the Health Department said that no decision has been made as to whether all children between the ages of five and 11 will be vaccinated at the same time, or whether they will be given to different age groups in that range.
“Further rollout logistics are under discussion and cannot be finalized until some time from the National Operations Center confirms the timing and vaccine delivery,” the spokesman said in an emailed statement.