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Waterloo Region aims to deliver COVID-19 vaccines to children aged 5-11 by Christmas

With the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine approved by Health Canada for those aged 5 to 11 on Friday, the Waterloo Region’s vaccine distribution task force hopes to have a needle in it all age groups at Christmas.

“I suggest that it will take us two to three weeks to get all those kids to our clinics, through our primary care offices, through their pharmacies. Me, and my hope is that they will all have the opportunity to get vaccinated, Vickie Murray, head of the region’s vaccine task force, said the first dose before the holiday season.

Read more:

Health Canada approves Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for children 5-11 years old

There are about 48,000 children in that age group in the region, and earlier this week, Murray told the Health Commission that 50-70% of the age group (24,000 to 36,000 children) would want to get vaccinated quickly. .

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She said people will need to be patient as Friday’s approval is only the first step in the process of immunizing children aged 5 to 11.

“Next, we are waiting for the direction of the province and of course, we need to wait for the delivery of the new Pfizer vaccine for children to arrive in our region,” said Murray.

Murray said it will take about a week for the first doses of Pfizer for children to arrive in the area.

“We’re just waiting for the final details on when it will arrive here in the Waterloo Region,” she told reporters Friday morning.


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The district said parents will not be able to make appointments for children in that age group until further instructions are received from the province.

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“As soon as we receive the updates and delivery schedules, we will make an announcement about the time and availability of appointments for children aged 5 to 11 years old,” said Murray.

Read more:

Up to 48,000 children in Waterloo Region 5-11 years old are eligible for COVID-19 vaccine

“I would like to ask people not to rush to the vaccine clinics (Friday) because Health Canada has announced the approval because we do not have vaccines for children here in the community and the freezer. our cold.”

When the vaccine arrives, she said she hopes it will be available at area clinics and pharmacies as well as from GPs.

“On top of that, we will be doing outreach activities at some of our local schools and we are still finalizing the details and hopefully making that information available to you,” Murray said.

“However, we are not going to stop there, because I think accessibility and ease of access is very important. So we’re going to continue to look at the opportunities out there, that could be easier or make vaccines more accessible for our whole community.”

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