When can children under 12 be vaccinated?Your COVID-19 question has been answered

When can children under 12 be vaccinated?Your COVID-19 question has been answered

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We are answering your questions about the pandemic. Send your email to [email protected] and we will reply to you as much as possible. We published a series of answers on the Internet, and also asked some questions to experts from the National Daily and CBC News. So far, we have received more than 78,000 emails from all over the country and around the world.

The National Advisory Committee on Immunization of Canada (NACI) now recommends the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children 12 years and older. In some provinces such as Manitoba, teenagers can already book their appointments.

Other regions will soon follow suit: Young people in Quebec can make an appointment As of next Tuesday, Newfoundland and Labrador once said They hope that students 12 years and older will start taking their first photos before the end of the school year.

But, like anything related to children’s health, the availability of new vaccines raises questions for many parents. Do they need a lower dose than adults? When will vaccines be provided for young children? This is what the doctor has to say.

When can children under 12 be approved for the vaccine?

Currently, Canada only approves one COVID-19 vaccine for people under 18 years of age. The Pfizer BioNTech vaccine has been approved for adolescents 12 years and older, while Canada has approved three other vaccines-Moderna, AstraZeneca-Oxford and Johnson & Johnson Johnson (Johnson)-only for people 18 years and older.

For children under the age of 12, multiple trials are being conducted to test the effectiveness and safety of existing vaccines.

In a recent interview with CBC News, Dr. Zain Chagla, an infectious disease doctor and associate professor at McMaster University, said: “Clinical trials are ongoing.”

“Moderna and Pfizer have both gone through this process and are basically six months old, so we will see what happens.”

This week, young people between the ages of 12 and 16 received the Pfizer vaccine for the first time at the vaccine clinic of Don Bosco Catholic Middle School in Toronto. (Mitsui Evan/CBC)

When Pfizer Start trial against children under 12, The company said that the data will not be available until the second half of 2021, and it hopes to see children vaccinated in early 2022.

NACI chair I also said to vaccinate the children It is expected to be in 2022.

Why do we vaccinate low-risk children and adolescents instead of giving the more vulnerable people a second shot?

Dr. Lynora Saxinger, an infectious disease expert at the University of Alberta, answered this question on CBC News on Tuesday.

She said that protecting the most vulnerable people is crucial, but she pointed out that the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine did provide very good protection.

Saxinge said: “I think they are not necessarily under-protected.”

“Shooting young people is indeed an opportunity to reduce transmission in the community, which has…protective effects for everyone.”

Dr. Alex Wong, an infectious disease expert from the Saskatchewan Department of Health, answered similar questions on the CBC News Network. Susan asked: “Why do we force the elderly to wait four months to vaccinate teenagers who only go to school in September?”

NACI’s current recommendation is that the second dose can be delayed for up to four months, so that more people can get the first dose when supplies are limited.

Mr. Huang is also an assistant professor at the University of Saskatchewan, and pointed out that in some provinces, students are still going to school.British Columbia schools are open and Alberta students expected to return Go to the classroom next week.

Watch/Albertans disagrees on whether opening a school is a good idea:

With the occurrence of COVID-19 cases in Alberta, the province will resume classroom learning for most students next week. Although some people appreciate this move, others worry that it is too fast and may prolong the third wave. 2:04

Wong said that there is a lot of scientific evidence that it is very important to vaccinate young people to reduce community transmission.

He also said that as the national vaccine supply improves, he expects that most elderly people will not have to wait the entire four months. The exact time depends on the province or region where you live.

For example, in Saskatchewan, where Dr. Huang lives, people over the age of 85 and people with health conditions such as cancer are already eligible for the second dose.Saskatchewan Plans to expand the second dose eligibility From now to late June. Adults 45 and older will gradually qualify until everyone is eligible to participate.

Will the COVID-19 vaccine affect the child’s fertility in the future?

Jillian wrote to ask this question, and Wong answered.

He said there is a lack of data on the long-term effects of these vaccines, but he pointed out that these vaccines are used in pregnant women and people of childbearing age and have no adverse effects.

Dr. Alexander Wong, an infectious disease expert in Regina, said that there is a lot of scientific evidence that vaccinating young people will help reduce the spread of COVID-19 in the community. (Submitted by Alexander Wong/Saskatchewan Health Authority)

“So far, there has been no concern about fertility or infertility…Therefore, there is no real reason to believe that the COVID-19 vaccine will cause similar problems in the short or long term,” Huang said.

“This is not the reason I think, because we are worried that our children will be vaccinated. I will definitely get vaccinated as soon as possible.”

Is the dose for children and adolescents the same as for adults?

How is Pfizer’s dose for children the same as the dose for an adult male weighing 250 pounds? This question comes from Linda.

Dr. Huang said that there are reliable clinical data showing that the same dose is sufficient to produce a protective antibody response in children and older adults.

“The vaccine has been studied based on our existing doses.”

When announcing the authorization on May 5, Dr. Supriya Sharma, Chief Medical Advisor of Health Canada, said that the Pfizer-BioNTech trial used the same dose size and two-dose schedule for adolescent participants as authorized for adults.

Pfizer said that this means two doses of 0.3ml vaccine Product monograph.

When it comes to vaccines, smaller people don’t necessarily need smaller doses.

Dr. Allison McGill, a medical microbiologist and infectious disease expert at Mount Sinai in Toronto, said: “The vaccine we chose is large enough so that the largest or heaviest people can receive a good response, but not People have adverse events.” The hospital said in an earlier interview on CBC News.

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Send your questions to [email protected] or keep them in the comments.

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