Parents breathe sigh of relief as thousands make Manitoba vaccination bookings for kids on opening day
CBC
Thousands of Manitoba parents were up bright and early Monday morning for a chance to get COVID-19 vaccination appointments for their kids as bookings for children as young as five opened for the first time.
Jen Shapka was one of about 15,000 people to book appointments for those five to 11 years old by 1 p.m. CT, according to the province.
She has been anxiously waiting for this day and her nerves kept her up through the night, she said.
"Thank you, science," said Shapka, who scheduled an appointment for her 11-year-old daughter as quickly as she could. "The overwhelming logistical undertaking this was to roll this out … Manitoba hasn't always been perfect at everything, but on the whole it's been very good."
Manitobans five to 11 are now eligible for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for kids. Shipments of the child dose arrive in Manitoba Tuesday, the province said.
Pharmacists and family doctors are expected to start getting doses between Thursday and next Monday, a provincial official said. The Manitoba vaccine finder app will be updated in the coming days to reflect which pharmacies have doses.
Currently, appointments for kids are only bookable at immunization supersites.
Provincial officials had warned that anyone jumping the queue and booking appointments for kids ahead of Monday would have those appointments cancelled.
Kyle Penner booked three appointments for his kids at the Steinbach supersite for next Monday.
The associate pastor at Grace Mennonite Church in Steinbach said he understands some parents have reservations.
"We love our children and would do anything for them and so to those parents we really do respect and understand those questions they have," he said. "Our doctors were there when our kids were born and they're their for everything else in between, and this is something we can talk to our doctors about as well."
Dr. Marni Hanna, a pediatrician and president of the Manitoba Pediatric Society, said the child shot has about one-third the dose of an adult vaccine, but still stimulates a robust immune response.
"This is going to be a key thing that's going to help things to get better and help us to move past this," she told Information Radio guest host Faith Fundal.
"It's going to make many parents and families feel a lot safer about putting their children in activities and sending them to school."
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This First Person column is the experience of Andrew Stetson, a writer and storyteller in P.E.I. For more information about CBC's First Person stories, please see the FAQ.
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