What you should know about the COVID-19 vaccine roll-out for children

British Columbians are being urged to register their children aged five to 11 for the COVID-19 vaccine, after the provincial government announced that Health Canada has approved the Pfizer vaccine for this age group after a thorough review.

Resource for doctors and families

With this new roll-out, it is likely that parents and guardians will have questions for their doctors. In an effort to support doctors with these conversations and reduce vaccine hesitancy, Doctors of BC has created a downloadable fact sheet for doctors to share with caregivers of children aged five to 11 about the vaccine. The fact sheet is part of our COVID-19 vaccine office toolkit.

The vaccine roll-out

Invitations will be sent to book appointments starting November 29, 2021 through the Get Vaccinated portal. Parents or guardians will need to register online, or can call 1-833-838-or visit a BC Service centre.

BC will not be rolling out pediatric vaccines by age cohorts, so parents or guardians will be able to have eligible kids be vaccinated together. A parent or guardian must give verbal consent at the appointment, or provide written consent if they are not with the child. However, caregivers are strongly encouraged to accompany their child when they receive the vaccine.

Children must be at least five years old, based on their birthday, and under 11 to receive the pediatric vaccine, which is a third of the adult dose. After a child turns 12, they will receive the adult vaccine. The recommended dose interval between the first and the second vaccine is a minimum of eight weeks.

The roll-out will take place in three types of clinics:

• Dedicated family clinics for five to 11 year old children and their caregivers
• 12+ clinics
• All age clinics

There are roughly 350,000 children in BC that are now eligible to receive the vaccine and about 90,000 currently registered.

For more information, go to the BC Government site: COVID-19 vaccines for children five to 11.