Edmontonians react to federal approval of COVID-19 vaccine for kids under 5

Thursday, Ottawa approved the COVID-19 vaccinations for children under 5-years-old.

BACKGROUND: Health Canada approves first COVID-19 vaccine for youngest kids

Pediatrician Tehseen Ladha told CityNews the announcement is positive news for parents. “I think that should be reassuring to families and caregivers that those processes were followed and there wasn’t anything rushed in making sure that this vaccine is safe and effective for children.”

Dr. Ladha is the mother of a two-year-old. She says vaccination is important to prevent serious illness or hospitalization in young children. “I have seen serious illness in children who are healthy who get COVID.”

Dr. Ladha isn’t the only one happy about the news from Ottawa.

“She was actually jumping – she was like, ‘Yay! Vaccines!” mother of two Kimberley McMann told City News when her daughter learned the news. “She has no memory of what it’s like to be in a restaurant – in fact she’s only been on a patio maybe three times.”

McMann says her family felt they had to sacrifice eating at restaurants to protect their unvaccinated four-year-old – and that the long wait for this vaccine has made her feel disregarded by the government as a parent of a young child.

“It feels like an eternity. Because the protections were removed so early, in this province, in particular, it felt like we were all left on our own.”

It wasn’t hard to find some parents, especially online, who aren’t about to get their young child vaccinated. CityNews found tweets that claimed “No thanks. I’ll let my kids’ immune system develop naturally, thanks,” or “Leave our kids alone! No thanks!”

Concerns about the effects of vaccines are addressed by pediatricians who say worries are unfounded.

“The vaccine itself has been rigorously studied, and the side effects that we’ve noted have been relatively mild.” Dr. Ladha told CityNews. “Whereas the infection itself we know can cause severe illness, and we don’t know what the long-term consequences are of infection in children.”

CityNews reached out to the Alberta Government about rolling out the vaccine. The province responded, “We’re currently finalizing details of what this will mean for Alberta. As always, our planning to roll this vaccine out to Albertans will depend on supply from the federal government. We expect to receive an initial supply and be able to begin rolling out this vaccine by the end of this month. We’ll update Albertans on next steps as soon as possible.”

-With files from Sarah Chew and Chris Bowen