Parents of young kids feel 'left behind' as they await COVID-19 vaccine
CBC
Some Canadian parents say they've been left behind as they wait on Health Canada to authorize vaccines for children under five years old.
"It's upsetting to see the whole world moving on and forgetting about all of the littles, basically," said Jaimie-Lyn Oldfield from Kingston, Ont.
She said her family has made sacrifices to protect her nearly three-year-old daughter Rosslyn from contracting COVID-19.
"We hardly see her grandparents," she said. "Everyone else got vaccinated and it's really disheartening and upsetting when they're like 'OK, we're going to remove all of these masking mandates.'"
On April 28, Moderna submitted its application to both Health Canada and the FDA for approval of a vaccine to protect children between six months and five years old.
On June 21, the U.S. began vaccinating small children after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized emergency use of the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines in children as young as six months old, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended use of the vaccines in this age group.
Although younger people who get COVID-19 often have milder symptoms, according to the Canadian Pediatric Society, getting vaccinated "helps protect children and youth from serious infection."
On June 17, Dr. Howard Njoo, Canada's deputy chief public health officer, confirmed that Health Canada had received an application from Moderna but not from Pfizer-BioNTech for the under-five age group.
Although he doesn't speak for Health Canada, Njoo said authorization for the Moderna pediatric vaccine could happen "in the coming weeks" but no other details or timeline have been made public since then.
On June 22, B.C. Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry told CBC Radio's On The Coast she believes it could be approved soon.
"I fully expect that Health Canada will have a recommendation on that within the next couple of weeks hopefully by early July and then it will be available for young people," she said.
Before the pandemic, Oldfield worked as a teacher at a private career college. She decided to stay home and care for her daughter, putting on hold plans she and her husband had to save for a house.
Oldfield said she and her husband have discussed driving to the United States to get their daughter vaccinated.
Many members of an online Facebook group, Canadians for under-5 COVID Access, say they are doing the same. Some parents say they are crossing the border and making appointments at U.S. pharmacies and clinics.
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