Provinces enlisting therapy dogs to help kids get COVID-19 vaccine
Global News
At least three provinces have been recruiting therapy dogs to help reassure children and adults nervous about getting needles at vaccination clinics for months.
Children turning up for their COVID-19 vaccine in Quebec last Friday were surprised to find not just the promise of a sticker at the end of the ordeal, but a waggy-tailed dog eager to be petted and potentially calm their fears over getting the shots.
At least three provinces have been recruiting therapy dogs to help reassure children and adults nervous about getting needles at vaccination clinics for months. Now the specially-trained canines are being enlisted to help with the rollout of vaccines for children aged five to 11.
In Montreal on Friday, therapy dogs were on hand to comfort some of the first kids under 12 to get shots after the approval of vaccines for the younger age group.
Animal therapists in Quebec are now considering taking their dogs into schools as the pediatric immunization drive ramps up.
In Saskatoon, therapy dogs are also being recruited to help take the sting out of kids’ COVID-19 jabs.
Children and adults with a fear of needles, or who worry about getting a protective jab against COVID-19, have turned to therapy dogs to reduce anxiety for months at some vaccination centres in Saskatchewan, Quebec and British Columbia.
In B.C, St. John Ambulance has taken their therapy dogs into Covid-19 vaccine clinics in Penticton and Trail.
Francoise Callamand-Mayer, an animal therapist from Montreal, was on hand Friday with Indiana, her seven year old retriever/Bernese mountain dog mix, at a clinic where some of the first children age five and up were being inoculated against the virus.