Nearly 6,000 young Quebecers aged six months to four years will receive a dose of vaccine once morest COVID-19 in the next few days, or got it on Monday.
The vaccination of this age group started Monday in Quebec, as announced last Thursday by the national director of public health, Luc Boileau. Nearly 400,000 Quebec children are newly eligible for the anti-COVID vaccination.
Some 5,955 appointments were made between July 21 and July 25 at 3 p.m., according to figures provided by the Ministry of Health and Social Services. It was, however, unable to provide the number of toddlers who received a dose of the vaccine on Monday. This data should be available “in the coming days,” said the Ministry’s communications directorate by email.
Although the proportion of toddlers with a vaccination appointment is low for the moment, this number is destined to increase in the coming weeks, estimates Olivier Drouin, assistant professor at the general pediatrics clinic at CHU Sainte-Justine. . “As people come back from vacation and see that it’s going well and there are no complications, I think the excitement will continue to grow. »
The pediatrician also notes that the parents of his young patients are for the most part quite “enthusiastic” regarding the vaccination once morest COVID-19. “Many of them feel powerless to protect their child from the virus, especially since the drop in public health measures,” says Dr.r Drouin.
When The duty consulted the Clic Santé platform at the end of the followingnoon on Monday, the availability of appointments for toddlers was disparate in Montreal: establishments such as the vaccination centers of Berri / Centre-Sud, Montreal-North and Pointe-Saint-Charles offered many time slots the next day at any time of day. In establishments offering vaccination only once a week, appointments were offered only from the second week of August.
In Estrie and in the Quebec region, several time slots were offered in the next seven days.
Toddlers “rarely hospitalized”
The Dr Olivier Drouin notes that the reason most frequently given by parents who feel a certain skepticism regarding the vaccine is their impression that children have a low risk of complications related to the disease. “It’s true,” he confirms. But some young children had to be hospitalized, some in intensive care. »
An interim scientific opinion from the Committee on Immunization of Quebec published last July 14 establishes a similar observation. Children six months to four years old are “as likely to develop COVID-19 as adults” when exposed to the virus, but are “rarely hospitalized”. The notice nevertheless underlines that “they are four to five times more at risk of being hospitalized for COVID-19 than young people aged 5 to 17 who are not adequately vaccinated”.
Moderna’s Spikevax vaccine for toddlers contains a quarter of the dose injected into an adult. A delivery of 70,000 doses was made in Quebec last week.
It’s going well in the United States
The administration of Spikevax to young children has also been approved in the United States since June 17. “Things have been going well in the United States for several weeks, and we expect the same in Canada”, explains the Dr Drouin. He also points out that Health Canada “continues to keep an eye on the possible impacts that vaccination might have” on toddlers.
As for possible side effects, these remain very “localized”, explains the pediatrician. “We are talking regarding a little pain or discomfort, very occasionally fever, but no serious complications. The vaccine is safe. »
The Dr Boileau said at a press conference last week that two injections offered “a very good immune response” for the age group of six months to four years. Some children with weakened immune systems may still need three doses to be adequately protected, while others who have already contracted the virus may stick to just one.
