Key takeaways:
- The first doses of the COVID-19 vaccination have begun to be administered to children across Canada.
- Approximately 78 percent of Canadians have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccination.
Children throughout Canada have begun to receive their first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, which experts believe will greatly assist in the fight against the pandemic.
“There will be a significant difference. According to Colin Furness, an infection control researcher at the University of Toronto, “the impact will be significant.”
On November 19, Health Canada approved Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccination for children aged five to eleven, and the first paediatric doses arrived days later. Shots have already started to be administered in several provinces.
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According to Statistics Canada’s demographic data, children in this age bracket make up about 8% of the Canadian population; however, this varies by province.
Approximately 78 percent of Canadians have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccination. If young children get vaccinated at the same rate as their classmates aged 12-17 – 87 percent of that have got at least one dose – then vaccinating this age group would boost Canada’s overall vaccine rate to nearly 85%.
“It’s a significant dent in the total number of people who don’t have protection,” Caroline Colijn, a professor of mathematics and Canada 150 Research Chair at Simon Fraser University who works with the B.C. COVID-19 Modelling Group said.
Colijn explained that predicting the exact impact of an extra few percentage points of vaccine coverage is difficult. Epidemiologists must consider current caseloads and how children interact and spread the disease, which has evolved dramatically across the pandemic, she explained.
Colijn added that the present minor drop in cases in B.C. would be accelerated based on their data. In other provinces, she believes that immunizing youngsters would reduce or stabilize the frequency of cases.
“Based on our modeling, it will most likely result in a decrease in transmission,” she said.
Source: Global News
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