N.L. could begin COVID-19 vaccinations for children next week

Just hours after Health Canada announced it had approved the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in children ages five to 11, Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey said doses could be going into children's arms as early as next week.

Furey told reporters Friday his government is waiting to see what the National Advisory Committee on Immunization guidelines will be, to fill in the blanks on the province's vaccination plan.

"We're hoping to have something on Monday or Tuesday," he said.

Furey said the Health Canada approval is an "exciting day," and hopes the vaccination campaign will go well with children across the province.

The province's Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Janice Fitzgerald, has said she expects the vaccine rollout to take four to six months.

Furey said they'll try to make getting the shot as easy as possible for children, by working to bring vaccinations to schools, and using other flexible options like pharmacies.

"You can't really have a cookie-cutter approach, but we will have what we hope and plan is a fulsome approach," he said.

Furey's statements come the same day the province reported four new COVID-19 cases.

Three are in the Central Health region: two people in their 40s and one person between the ages of 20 and 39.

There is one case in the Eastern Health region, a person in their 60s. All four people are contacts of previous cases.

The new cases, along with seven new recoveries across the province, drop Newfoundland and Labrador's active case count to 19. There are 12 active cases in the Central Health region and seven in the Eastern Health region.

There is no one in hospital due to COVID-19.

Eastern Health also shared a potential COVID-19 exposure notification on Thursday, asking anyone who visited Piatto Pizzeria and Enoteca at 60 Empire Ave. in St. John's to book a COVID-19 test.

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