Half of Canadian parents would vaccinate their 5-11 year-old ASAP: survey

With Health Canada expected to soon begin considering COVID-19 vaccine eligibility for children aged five to 11 years, a new survey by the Angus Reid Institute says that more than half of Canadian parents plan to give their kids the jab as soon as they get the green light.

However, in a sign of the divided opinions on vaccinations across the country, nearly one-quarter say they will not vaccinate their elementary school-aged children even if the vaccines are approved for the age group.

The survey found that 51 per cent of parents plan to get their children vaccinated as soon as it is approved, while 18 per cent said they plan to eventually get their children vaccinated, but would wait a while first. Twenty-three per cent said they will not get their children vaccinated, and nine per cent said they weren’t sure.

The online survey of 5,011 Canadian adults was conducted from Sept. 29 to Oct. 3 among members of the Angus Reid Forum public opinion community. The survey was paid for by the Angus Reid Institute and has a margin of error of +/- 2.0 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

Currently, vaccines are only approved for those age 12 and up, but that could soon change as Pfizer and its partner BioNTech have submitted preliminary data to Health Canada for approval for the five-to-11 age group. A Pfizer spokesperson said last week the company expected to make a formal submission by mid-October.