Nova Scotia opens COVID-19 vaccine bookings to ages 5-11
Appointments for vaccine must be made online or by phone
Nova Scotia has opened COVID-19 vaccine bookings for children aged five to 11.
Appointments for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine were available through the province's vaccine booking website as of Friday morning.
Appointments for the vaccine must be made online or by phone at 1-833-797-7772.
Children between the ages of five and 11 in Nova Scotia will be able to start getting vaccinated for COVID-19 on Dec. 2.
Bookings will be opened to the entire new age group all at once — a population of about 65,000.
Vaccine administered at pharmacies, IWK
Dr. Robert Strang, Nova Scotia's chief medical officer of health, said at a Wednesday briefing that the first shipments of the vaccine for kids will be delivered to the province this week.
Health Canada approved Pfizer-BioNTech's vaccine for kids five to 11 on Nov. 19. The province has previously announced that vaccines for children will be delivered through pharmacies. The IWK Health Centre will also administer the shots.
Strang said Nova Scotia has the capacity to administer first doses to all kids aged five to 11 who want them before Christmas.
'Make the COVID-19 vaccine a priority'
Children aged five to 11 will be considered fully vaccinated 14 days after their second dose. Strang said a minimum of eight weeks between doses is recommended.
If a child turns 12 between the first and second doses, the second dose will be the adult dose, Strang said.
He said children under 12 should not receive other vaccinations at the same time as the COVID-19 shot, but rather should leave 14 days between the COVID-19 vaccine and a different shot.
"If you do have to make a choice, make the COVID-19 vaccine a priority," Strang said.
Those 12 and older can receive a COVID-19 dose at the same time as another vaccine.
Vaccine could be approved for babies, toddlers in new year
Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada's chief public health officer, said Thursday that COVID-19 vaccines for babies and toddlers could be approved early in the new year, depending on how clinical trials play out.
Pfizer-BioNTech is running clinical trials for those aged six months to just under five years. Moderna is waiting for Health Canada approval on its COVID-19 vaccine for children aged six to 11, and is also in the midst of recruiting younger children for a clinical trial.
"I can't tell you exactly when those results will be available," Tam said of the trials. "It depends on how many people they recruit and how fast the trials go. But I think all of that is well underway."
The dose of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children ages 5-11 is one-third of the adult dose.
