COVID-19 vaccines for children aged 5 to 11 to arrive in Simcoe Muskoka
The Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit (SMDHU) is preparing to receive COVID-19 vaccines for children aged five to 11 this week.
On Friday, Health Canada announced that it had approved a modified version of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children.
According to SMDHU, it anticipates that the pediatric formulation of the COVID-19 vaccine will be received locally this week, and the health unit will make it available by appointment only through local community clinics, pharmacies and some primary care providers.
The new age group will be eligible to book their COVID-19 vaccine appointments on the provincial vaccine portal on Tuesday at around 8 a.m., officials said.
Children must be turning five years old by the end of the year to be eligible.
"Getting five to 11-year-olds vaccinated is safe and the most effective way to protect them from COVID-19. This is the next major step in our efforts, locally and beyond, to protect children and the broader community from the COVID-19 pandemic," said Dr. Charles Gardner, SMDHU's Medical Officer of Health.
Health Canada and the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) say that preliminary evidence shows the vaccine is 91 per cent effective at preventing COVID-19 in children five to 11 years of age, and no serious side effects have been identified, said the statement released by SMDHU.
The first batch of COVID-19 vaccines for children in Canada landed in Hamilton on Sunday.
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