ONLY 51 PER CENT OF CHILDREN AGED 5-11 HAVE HAD ONE DOSE

As the Omicron variant continues to strain Canadian hospitals, a vaccine hesitancy expert is voicing concern about the slow vaccination rate of children between the ages of five and 11. In the two months since the approval of child-sized doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, only 51 per cent of children in that age group have had at least one dose. That’s compared to more than 72 per cent of 12- to 17-year-olds in the two months following approval for that age range. Kate Allan, a post-doctoral research fellow at Centre for Vaccine Preventable Diseases at the University of Toronto, says while she predicted parents would be slower to have younger children vaccinated, the rate is lower that she expected. Meanwhile, The Quebec government announced the loosening of some COVID restrictions Tuesday.