Children turning 12 line up for the COVID-19 vaccine

Barrie, Ont. -

Children turning 12 this year lined up outside of a COVID-19 vaccine clinic in Barrie on Wednesday morning for their first dose.

On Tuesday, the Ontario government announced eligibility for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine would include children born in 2009 as of Aug. 18.

For many Simcoe County families, the announcement came with great relief with the start of the school year mere weeks away.

"I'm just glad that it will be active before the first day of school," said 11-year-old Gavin Hall.

"It's about time," said Cathy Moorhead, whose daughter turns 12 this year. "We're happy that's she's finally able to get it."

As the Delta variant surges across Ontario, Moorhead said the government should have decided sooner to expand the vaccine for children born in 2009.

On Tuesday afternoon, Simcoe Muskoka's top doctor Dr. Charles Gardner said that the Delta variant could put unvaccinated children at risk.

"It's more transmissible in children, and with the potential of more cases, there could be more severe cases," said Gardner.

On Wednesday afternoon, CTV News was given access into the RVH Sperling Drive vaccine clinic, and throughout the morning, children lined up for the vaccine.

"In the first six hours, we've seen 51 of those 11-year-olds who became eligible this morning," said the clinic's operations director, Stella Johnson.

Johnson said in addition to soon-to-be 12-year-olds, 112 children between the age of 12 and 17 received their dose of the vaccine— one of which was 13-year-old Jaiden Halbert-Nelson.

"I want to enjoy going to school again and seeing my friends," said Halbert-Nelson when asked why he got his vaccine.

Earlier this week, the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit said it would be working with local school boards to offer COVID-19 clinics at schools in the region.

The details are to be announced soon, but the clinics are expected to run the last week of August and the first week of September.