Children aged six months and up can now receive a COVID-19 immunization. (Dreamstime)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

VACCINE ROLLOUT

Island Health booking COVID-19 immunizations for kids aged six months and up

Aug 2, 2022 | 2:43 PM

NANAIMO — COVID-19 immunization is now available for anyone aged six months and older.

Island Health began administering doses of the Moderna Spikevax vaccine on Tuesday, Aug. 2, in line with provincial public health.

Medical health officer Dr. Mike Benusic said a vaccine for kids aged between six months and four years old took a long time to develop and research.

“To make sure the vaccine we provide to kids is really going to reduce the risk of harm, but not have adverse effects like bad side effects we wouldn’t want kids to have. That’s why it’s taken so much time to get this vaccine ready because we wanted to make sure we got it right.”

Appointments can be made for children through the same B.C. Government website others used to book their appointments.

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There are no vaccine mandates in place for young children, with Benusic saying the decision to vaccine kids stays with the parents or caregivers.

He added the unknown element of the vaccine now is how often it has to be administered, with the current plan involving two doses roughly eight weeks apart

“Is it going to be like influenza where it’s a yearly booster, or is it going to be more so like measles when you have a couple of shots as a child and then you’re protected for many years? That’s still up in the air right now.”

Health Canada authorized use of the Moderna vaccine in young children in mid-June.

More information on the vaccine and booking appointments is available through BC Public Health.

Vaccination rates have lagged in the province for the five to 11-year-old age cohort with only 49 per cent of the group having received at least one COVID-19 vaccination shot, according to B.C. Government data.

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