Number of children under 5 years of age vaccinated against disease COVID-19 In Ontario even lower than the relatively small number many experts had expected.
The injections for the youngest age group were available for two months, but only about six percent of those children received their first dose.
Ontario’s chief medical officer, Dr Kieran Moore, says the numbers are lower than the numbers he thinks he’ll see at this point.
“I definitely want more families to consider immunizing children between the ages of six months and four years old,” he said in an interview, especially those at high risk.
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“We know we have a higher percentage of children with an underlying medical condition than 5% that could make them worse outcomes related to COVID and strongly encourage those parents to consider talking about it. with your health care provider about the risks and benefits. “
Raywat Deonandan, an epidemiologist and associate professor in the department of health sciences at the University of Ottawa, says there are a lot of factors that contribute to low absorption, but he would still expect a higher number at this point. this.
“I’m not surprised it’s low, I’m surprised it’s this low,” he said.
Deonandan, who also points to misinformation about vaccine side effects, said many people believe false narratives that the pandemic is over and that children don’t get sick with COVID-19.
The way in which messages about vaccine safety and effectiveness are communicated to parents are important, says Deonandan.
“This has to be explained as, ‘Parents, this is your decision and I want to give you all the transparent information I can so you can make a good choice here,’” he said. .
“It’s a delicate balancing act here that we have to do when it comes to this. You don’t want to see it as forcing a foreign object into your child’s body, because we find the population to be very sensitive to that type of narrative. We don’t want to be scaremongers trying to force the world back into lockdown…. But at the same time, you just want to be active for the overall health of the kids.”
The City of Toronto pulled a series of videos this week about vaccinating children against COVID-19 after one hinted that children can’t go out to play with friends if they haven’t been vaccinated.
“This video missed the mark in that message and should not have been posted,” spokesman Brad Ross said in a statement.
“A series of five videos aimed at parents and carers about vaccines for children has been paused while each video is reviewed to ensure the message is clear and clear: vaccines are available to children and They are safe.”
Pediatricians are the people parents should listen to right now, says Deonandan.
“No one trusts epidemiologists anymore,” he said. “They no longer trust government doctors. No one trusts virologists anymore. They only trust their child’s pediatrician, and those are the people who have to have this conversation.”
Moore said the province is hearing from parents that one-on-one conversations are the most effective communication tool.
“When you go to your primary care provider, your pediatrician, you get the standard immunizations at two months, four months, six months, 12, 15, 18 months – all of them is an opportunity for families to ask questions about COVID, he said.
“We have work to do to continue our (official) message. It accelerates when we go indoors and fall because we perceive an increased risk of transmission.”
Dr Paul Roumeliotis, medical officer with the Eastern Ontario Health Unit, said he expects childhood vaccinations to accelerate in the fall, as he has predicted overall uptake rates to be around 25 to 30%.
He attributed the slow start to the summer roll-out, the spread of misinformation about the vaccine, as well as the general reluctance of parents when it comes to children of that age.
“As a pediatrician, I know that parents are always hesitant – especially for young children and babies – be it vaccinations or any medication,” he said.
“One of the messages that we need to tell people is that while that vaccine is not as effective as we would like for human-to-human transmission, it is certainly highly effective against severe disease and disease. their complications.”
There’s also an element of complacency, says Dr Anna Banerji, a pediatrician, infectious disease specialist and associate professor at the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health.
“(People think), ‘Oh COVID isn’t that bad. It’s just a mild cold in young children, I really don’t need to worry about it,'” she said.
“I think, there’s a lot of people denying that children, especially younger children, can get this and get very, very sick with it.”
Public Health Ontario said in its most recent report that there was a significant increase in hospitalizations for infants under one year of age, with 17 in the week of September 4 through September 10 compared with with the previous 8 weeks. Since the start of the pandemic, 1,268 children in that age group have been hospitalized with COVID-19 – a much higher rate than older children and adolescents.
Banerji says children have a pretty good chance of catching COVID-19 once schools are back up, and that it’s not just the immediate and long-term effects on the children themselves but the parents. should note.
“(They) can also spread it to other children, can spread it at home, can spread it to grandparents,” she said.
“It’s something that can dramatically affect someone’s life. And so I’m going to do what you can to reduce the risk of transmission, which is really vaccination. “
© 2022 Canadian Press
