Appointments for the COVID-19 vaccine can be booked for Hamilton children ages 5 to 11 starting Tuesday – Hamilton

A portion of Hamilton’s population currently at the highest risk of contracting COVID-19 will soon get their first chance to get their first vaccine against the disease later this week.

Pfizer shots for the city’s estimated 42,000 children will hit the Hamilton public health organization’s VERTO booking portal at 8 a.m. Tuesday, after the first shipment arrived in the city Sunday night. Japan.

Health Officer Dr. Elizabeth Richardson told Hamilton’s 900 CHML Today it is expected the city will get close to all the doses needed from the first shipment to immunize the eligible population 5 to 11 by Hamilton.

“We’ll definitely have enough to get them all done with our clinics opening for real on Thursday,” said Richardson.

“You can start booking… your vaccination appointment tomorrow and then start… vaccination as early as Thursday.”

Installation for the injections will be through a number of different clinics, including permanent locations at Lime Ridge Shopping Center and Center on Barton, kid-friendly mobile clinics, pharmacies as well. as teen-friendly clinics.

“Sometimes kids can be afraid of needles or maybe have some other fear,” says Richardson.

“So our partners at McMaster Children’s Hospital and their child life experts are helping to provide some particularly friendly clinics for children experiencing those same concerns. ”

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COVID-19 vaccine appointments can be booked on Tuesdays for children ages 5 to 11 in Ontario

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School-based clinics were not part of the initial rollout for people ages 5 to 11 due to the complexity of such a campaign requiring parents and guardians to be present for injections.

“It’s hard to do during the school day when they’re still trying to continue our children’s education,” Richardson revealed.

“So it’s very likely that what will happen over time is that we will continue to look at how the schools fit into the plan.”

Health Canada has recommended a regiment of two doses three weeks apart for the Pfizer shot that has shown a 90.7 percent effectiveness rate in children ages 5 to 11 – similar to the effectiveness of a dose for for adults.

The Niagara Region rollout will come to the same venue as Hamilton through online booking this week. An estimated 20,000 doses were delivered in Niagara in the first week since the first Canadian shipment.

The region has an estimated 32,500 children aged 5 to 11 eligible for vaccination.

The shots not only work, but have shown in CDC studies that they have fewer side effects like fatigue, headaches and muscle aches when taken in adults, said acting health official Mustafa Hirji.

Data coming from a multinational, placebo-controlled efficacy trial showed that children younger than 12 years of age had significantly lower post-effects compared with children aged 16 to 25 years.

“Children will actually have a better experience with vaccines, safer vaccinations and still get all that protection,” says Hirji.

To date, nearly three million children have been immunized in the United States since the beginning of November.

Dr Rachel Loewith, a family physician in Hamilton, said vaccination was an important development during the pandemic as it would begin to address an area of ​​spread that had not been tapped by the medical community.

“Although the individual risk for the average child is quite low, we know from the social impact and from trying to want to be around family members that the risk,” says Loewith. higher, especially in the winter months,” says Loewith.

“It’s really important to protect our children as best as possible so they can do all those normal childhood activities that everyone wants to go back to.”

Hamilton Public Health estimates that about 40% of the child population will be vaccinated in the next few weeks, which equates to about 16,000 doses.

The city says the need for booster shots and booster doses for children will keep the city’s clinics and medical partners busy throughout the holiday season and into early 2022. The shots are expected. Reminders will be made available in January to anyone who is 12 years of age or older eligible. population wants it.

As of last Monday, the city had injected about 11,000 third doses, which are now recommended but not required.

Over the weekend, Hamilton’s medical partners put on weapons just over 3,100 doses of the vaccine, of which Friday recorded the largest injections in the past three days – 1,523.

The November average was 1,055 photos per day, slightly less than what was recorded in all of October 1068 and further than the September average of 1,488 photos per day.

As of Wednesday, 82.9% of eligible Hamiltonians over the age of 12 were fully immunized while 86% had at least one shot. The city still lags behind the provincial average with 85.5% fully vaccinated and 88.7 with at least one dose of vaccine.

Residents aged 70 to 84 years had achieved the Department of Health’s target of 90% first and second dose coverage, while Hamiltonians aged 25 to 29 had the lowest vaccination rates of the population. eligible people in the community, only 72.3% are fully immunized.

Public Health estimates that about 1 in 10 Hamiltonians are being vaccinated outside the city.

Hamilton is behind 31 other public health units in two-dose vaccination rates in Ontario.

Hamilton’s daily COVID-19 case rate has increased slightly over the past week with public health reporting a seven-day average case rate of 22 on Monday, four above the daily average of 18 cases per day so far in all of November.

This rate is on par with the daily average recorded for October, which is also 22 cases per day.

Active cases also rebounded from Friday’s 157 to 181 reported on Monday.

More than 64% of all active cases are in people under the age of 50, while 43% are under the age of 30.

Since the pandemic began in March 2020, Hamilton has reported 25,621 COVID cases.

There were 10 reported outbreaks involving a total of 63 cases citywide as of Nov. 21. The largest outbreak was at St. Peter’s, which has a total of 18 cases – 4 of the staff and 14 of the patients.

Outbreaks at the school include cases at three public and two private facilities.

The biggest case is St. Gabriel of the Catholic school board on Barton Street in Stoney Creek, where there are 12 student cases and one service staff case.

In the past 14 days, both public boards have reported 48 cases with 41 of the students.

Hamilton hospitals are reporting a total of 18 COVID patients as of Monday, including six in the intensive care unit (ICU) at St. Joes.

Less than five in the Hamilton Health Science ICU.

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