Ontario reports 65 new COVID-19 deaths, with vaccine uptake for children lower than expected

Ontario is reporting 65 new deaths linked to COVID-19, while the number of children under the age of five getting vaccinated against the virus is even lower than the relatively low number many experts had expected.

Newly released data from the Ontario Ministry of Health on Thursday shows the number of people in hospital with the virus dropped slightly to 1,141 from 1,167 this time last week. 

The number of people in intensive care due to COVID-19 stayed relatively stable at 129 while last week's number was 130. Of those in intensive care, 57 patients are on a ventilator, up from 47 last week.

Test positivity on Thursday climbed slightly to 13.1 per cent, up from 12.2 per cent last Thursday.

Meanwhile, shots for the youngest age group have been available for two months, but only about six per cent of those kids have had their first dose.

Ontario's chief medical officer of health, Dr. Kieran Moore, said that is lower than the numbers he thought he would see by this point.

"I certainly want more families to consider immunizing their children from six months to four years of age," in particular, children at high risk, he said in an interview.

"We know we have a higher percentage than five per cent of children with an underlying medical illness that may predispose them to having a worse outcome associated with COVID and would absolutely encourage those parents to consider having a conversation with your health-care provider regarding the risks and benefits."

Raywat Deonandan, an epidemiologist and associate professor in the faculty of health sciences at the University of Ottawa, said there are a lot of factors at play that likely feed into a low uptake, but he still would have expected a higher number by now.

"I'm not surprised it's low, I'm surprised it's this low," he said.

Many people believe false narratives that the pandemic is over and that kids don't get sick when they're infected with COVID-19, said Deonandan, who also pointed to misinformation about side effects of the vaccine.

The way that messages about the safety and efficacy of the vaccine get communicated to parents matters, Deonandan said.

"This must be couched as, 'Parents, this is your decision to make and I want to give you all of the transparent information I can so that you make a good choice here,"' he said.

"It's a delicate balancing act here that we have to do when talking about this. You don't want to come across as forcing a foreign thing into your child's body, as we see the population is very sensitive to that kind of narrative. We don't want to come across as being fearmongers trying to force the world back into lockdown.... But at the same time, you just want to advocate for overall child health."