Only a minority of parents in British Columbia have registered their children under five to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, according to the Ministry of Health.
The province has estimated that about 208,000 children between the ages of six months and five years are eligible for the vaccine. Parents of babies under six months old can still register their child and receive an invitation to book a class once they are old enough.
Online registration became available on July 14, but as of Wednesday, only 13,606 of those children had been registered by their parents, with 8,202 reservations. This is 6.5 and 3.9 percent, respectively.
Health Canada approved a two-dose series of Moderna’s vaccine for this youngest group nearly three weeks ago, and several provinces began rolling them out not long after.
In British Columbia, the first doses were administered on Tuesday.
“Sometimes it takes us a little longer to get the vaccine delivered compared to Ontario, for example. So we wanted to make sure we had it across the province and everyone starts today,” said provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry at a press conference the day the rollout officially began.
Infectious disease expert Dr Brian Conway says the introduction of this age category could have been stronger.
“We’ve got to do a little bit better,” Conway told CTV News on Tuesday.
He says the United States is using a little more graphic advertising to remind people of the consequences of contracting COVID-19.
“While I don’t want to get us into a scare tactic, I really want us to get over this COVID fatigue and understand what our responsibility is,” Conway said.
He would like to see clearer, stronger messages from public health.
“Our first line of defense is vaccines. I can’t hear it loud enough. Let’s all get vaccinated, including children under six months of age,” Conway said.
Uptake of the first dose among children between the ages of five and 11 in British Columbia stopped at about 55 per cent in February. This is in line with the national average, which was at a similar plateau months ago. Newfoundland and Labrador remained a significant outlier, as one dose was given to 87 percent of children in this age group.
Concerns about low vaccination rates among this age group were raised by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau back in January. At that time, the rate was 51 percent, and cases increased because of the Omicron variant.
“Vaccination rates for 5- to 12-year-olds are too low in Canada, which means that not only are children more vulnerable, but so is society as a whole,” Trudeau said at the time.
“We must do what is right; we must continue to do the right thing. That means vaccinating our children. It’s safe and effective and the right way to get through this pandemic.”
With files from Regan Hasegawa of CTV News Vancouver
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