Children aged six months to four years can now be vaccinated against COVID-19, and although pharmacists are not allowed to be the ones to administer it, they insist on making sure children are protected.
Caitlin Giercke of Pharmasave says vaccinations for this age group are nothing new, with vaccines for young children against measles, mumps, rubella, varicella (chicken pox) and others. She mentions that normally pharmacies aren’t even allowed to administer vaccine doses to people under the age of seven, but the government has made an exception for COVID-19.
“This was to allow more access to these COVID vaccines for children,” Gierke says. “Unfortunately, just because of the limitations of the study and just the risk of simple observation after vaccination, it is safer for children to be vaccinated in a clinical setting through the Portage Clinic.”
She adds that vaccinating someone so young is something pharmacists are simply not trained to do. Giercke says the vaccine given to young children is the Moderna vaccine, which is an mRNA vaccine.
“Two doses are recommended for this age group,” explains Giercke. “Doses should also be eight weeks apart.”
Giercke hopes that people will stay smart and continue to try to stop the spread of COVID-19.
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