'It's just a prick': Sask. doctor encourages parents to talk to kids about COVID-19 vaccine
While many parents are eager to book their kids for their first COVID-19 vaccine, one Saskatchewan doctor says children could be feeling more anxiety than excitement.
Wednesday marked the first day vaccine clinics were open to Saskatchewan kids ages five to 11.
Dr. Nazeem Muhajarine, an epidemiologist in Saskatoon, says roughly 60 per cent of that age group have some degree of fear towards needles. That is one of the reasons he estimates about 40 to 50 per cent of children will get their shot right away before there is resistance.
“We have to vaccinate 85 to 90 per cent of that age cohort in order to get 85 to 90 per cent of the overall population fully vaccinated,” Muhajarine said.
“That’s going to take some time. I think it will take as long as it has taken to get there for adults 12 and older.”
To help encourage high vaccine uptake, Muhajarine says parents should talk to their kids about the vaccine while explaining the inoculation process.
“It’s just a prick,” he said. “It’s like a mosquito bite, but it will soon go away. The pain will soon go away and this going to keep you healthy.”
The provincial government has 112,000 doses of the Pfizer pediatric vaccine. According to officials, the shipment is enough to give a first dose to every child who wants it.
Officials say roughly 2,000 doses were administered to kids on Wednesday, the first day of pediatric vaccine clinics.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
Concerns about plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall plexiglass barriers.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Canada's most wanted fugitive arrested in P.E.I. in connection with Toronto homicide
A suspect in a fatal shooting in Toronto’s east end last summer has been arrested in Charlottetown, just one week after he topped a list of Canada’s most wanted fugitives.
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Toddler of Phoenix first responder dies after bounce house goes airborne
A two-year-old child died after a strong gust of wind sent the bounce house he was in airborne and into a neighbouring lot in central Arizona, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said.
Plane overshoots runway at airport in St. John's, N.L., no injuries reported
Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada are headed to St. John's, N.L., after a plane overshot a runway at the city's airport this afternoon.
A teen was found buried in a basement in New York. An engraved ring helped police learn her identity two decades later
For more than two decades, the unknown victim was nicknamed "Midtown Jane Doe" because she was found in the Hell's Kitchen neighbourhood of New York City. But this week, investigators finally revealed her identity.