Vaccine eligibility drops to age 12 today
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 14/05/2021 (2003 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Manitoba came one step closer to herd immunity today when the province announced people as young as 12 years of age can now make an appointment for their vaccine at any of the supersites or urban Indigenous clinics in the province.
The lowered age of eligibility was announced during this morning’s technical briefing to media by Dr. Joss Reimer, medical lead of the Vaccine Implementation Task Force.
Manitoba became one of the first jurisdictions in the country to allow young people aged 12 to 17 to book their Pfizer vaccine appointment, a move Reimer said puts us one step closer to achieving herd immunity. There are approximately 111,000 young people aged 12 to 17 in the province.
“When we talk about herd immunity in the strict epidemiologic definition, we’re talking about a complete inability for the virus to circulate in the community.”
Reimer said with this virus, we would need at least 70 per cent of the province immunized before we would see full herd immunity.
With the variants, it might be higher than that. But, regardless of regardless of whether we hit full herd immunity, Reimer said the more Manitobans who are protected, the less the virus can circulate.
“We are studying that to see how each variant might affect the numbers we need for herd immunity,” she said. “We can reach herd immunity faster if a large portion of the population can be immunized.”
Reimer reassured the public the Pfizer vaccine has been tested and reviewed and found to be safe for older children. While youths are encouraged to have a parent or guardian book the appointment, she said if they come to a vaccine site without a guardian and consent form, they can go through an informed consent process with a clinical lead to assess their ability to consent on their own and proceed with the vaccine.
This news comes after Health Canada approved the use of the Pfizer vaccine for children aged 12 to 15 on May 5 and has been approved for use in people aged 16 and older since Dec. 9, 2020.
The province also recommended people who are First Nations (status and non-status), Metis and Inuit or those who self-identify as First Nations, Metis and Inuit, be the ones using the urban Indigenous clinics. Those clinics were designed to increase accessibility and culturally safe spaces and non-Indigenous people have been booking appointments at these sites. To book an appointment for a vaccine, phone 1-844-626-8222 or do so online at https://protectmb.ca.
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