Top Doctor Hosts Q&A On Pediatric COVID-19 Vaccine

New Brunswick parents had a chance Wednesday to learn more about the COVID-19 vaccine for kids aged five to 11.

Chief medical health officer Dr. Jennifer Russell and pediatrician Dr. Rachel Ouellette hosted a live Q&A session.

The two doctors answered more than a dozen questions during the 45-minute event streamed on YouTube.

One person asked why the province is going with an eight-week interval between doses rather than three weeks approved by Health Canada.

Russell said the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) recommended at least eight weeks between doses based on evidence surrounding longer intervals.

“The data shows that by extending the authorized intervals by several weeks, it leads to a higher immune response and better protection against COVID-19 infection and that it is also expected to last longer,” said Russell.

Russell noted that the pediatric vaccine has a smaller dose than the vaccine for those 12 and older as healthy children have a stronger immune system compared to youth and adults.

The doctors were also asked when a COVID-19 vaccine for children under the age of five might be approved.

Russell said Health Canada is anticipating submissions from Pfizer-BioNTech in the coming months and children in that age group could become eligible next year.

Several questions also centered around the recent news of a new COVID-19 variant dubbed Omicron.

One person asked if parents should wait for Pfizer to tweak their vaccine before getting their kids vaccinated.

“At this point, there’s no reason to wait to get the vaccine,” said Ouellette. “The longer you wait, the longer your child is unprotected from the current variants, and delaying vaccination means your child is susceptible to getting COVID-19 right now.”

While kids are less likely to become severely ill from COVID-19, Ouellette said it can happen.

She said 299 children aged five to 11 had been hospitalized with COVID-19 between Jan. 1 and Nov. 12 of this year, according to numbers from the Canadian Pediatric Society. Forty-eight children were admitted to an ICU and two died.

According to Public Health, about 30 per cent of cases reported in New Brunswick since September have been among youth under the age of 20.

“We can say as physicians that the risk of getting COVID and having severe symptoms can happen,” said Russell.

Russell said the vaccine does not prevent you from contracting COVID-19 — it reduces the risk by about 25 per cent — but it is more than 90 per cent effective against severe symptoms, hospitalization, ICU admission and death.

You can watch the full video below: