Skip to main content

The push to get eligible students vaccinated as back to school approaches

Share
BARRIE, ONT. -

As parents and students wait to hear back to school plans from local boards, there's a push to get as many eligible kids vaccinated as possible.

Many teens and doctors agree - the best place for learning as restrictions ease - is in the classroom.

Barrie resident Sandro Fuentes celebrated his twelfth birthday Thursday afternoon by receiving his first COVID-19 vaccine.

"We're going to try to get both doses before school starts so I can have less restrictions," Sandro says.

One focus is trying to avoid another interrupted school year filled with stops and starts, outbreaks and a shift to online learning.

"There's a lot of fallout from kids having been home for so long and stress, anxiety, not socializing." says Dr. Rania Hiram, a pediatrician at RVH. "We need to normalize their lives and just get back to normal as much as we can."

Dr. Hiram says she's seeing an increase in mental health crises in children and eating disorders growing at a rate she's never seen before.

"Sports, extra-curricular activists, socialization outside with their peers, so those are all very important aspects of a child's development," Hiram says.

The local school boards in Simcoe Muskoka have not released a timeline for when families can decide whether returning for in-person learning is right for them.

Barrie's Sperling Drive clinic will be accepting drop-ins from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. for the rest of this week. View their walk-in schedule on their website.

CTVNews.ca Top Stories

Do these exercises for core strength if you can't stomach doing planks

Planks are one of the most effective exercises for strengthening your midsection, as they target all of your major core muscles: the transverse abdominis, rectus abdominis, external obliques and internal obliques. Yet despite the popularity of various 10-minute plank challenges, planking is actually one of the most dreaded core exercises, according to many fitness experts.

Stay Connected