Children aged 5 to 11 to begin receiving COVID-19 vaccines in B.C. next week

British Columbia is going to start vaccinating children aged five to 11 against COVID-19 next week, the province says.

Officials said Tuesday invitations to book appointments will start going out Monday to families with children who have been registered through the "Get Vaccinated" portal.

The children will be receiving Pfizer's pediatric vaccine, the first COVID-19 vaccine to be approved in Canada for children in that age group. Health Canada approved the vaccine on Friday, adding roughly 350,000 children in B.C. to the list of those eligible for a shot.

Vaccinations for young children will happen at clinics but not pharmacies. A parent or guardian must give verbal consent, the province said, and there will be a minimum of eight weeks between Dose 1 and Dose 2.

The five-to-11 age bracket is firm, officials added.

If a child is four years old, they will not be able to get vaccinated until after their fifth birthday. If an 11-year-old turn 12 between their first and second dose, their second shot will be the adult dosage.

Officials said they are taking steps to accommodate families with multiple siblings as well as families with children who have special needs or a fear of needles.

Families will be able to bring all of their kids at the same time, as long as they're all booked at the same clinic at some time on the same day.

For children with specific needs or who are afraid of needles, the province said it plans to create private spaces at clinics — including quiet areas where they can sit with their families before and after the shot.

The first doses of Pfizer's pediatric vaccine are expected to arrive in the Lower Mainland Tuesday, to be sent out across the province by truck. The pediatric doses — which are each one-third of the adult dose — will be stored in vials with orange caps and orange-bordered labels, to set them apart them from the adult vials with purple caps.

In remote First Nations communities, the First Nations Health Authority (FHNA) and local health authority will bring pediatric vaccinations to the community at the same time they bring doses for adults. The province said Tuesday it is still working on scheduling those deliveries.

Last week, Dix and Henry said in a joint statement that they welcomed both the Health Canada announcement and recommendations from the National Advisory Committee on Immunization on use of the lower-dose vaccine for those children.

More than 90,000 children have already been registered for their vaccine and are on the list to be contacted to book an appointment for their shots.

Henry said the vaccination of children is important to protect them from COVID-19, which continues to spread, especially with a fourth wave that is affecting children.