Vaccination rates for Alberta kids ages 5-11 are the lowest in Canada, but experts see hope ahead
CBC
Alberta is lagging behind all other Canadian provinces and territories when it comes to getting children aged five to 11 vaccinated against COVID-19, publicly available data shows.
Accessibility is a roadblock, and so is vaccine hesitancy among parents and guardians.
But some experts are confident steps can be taken to improve vaccination rates by making it easier for children to get the jab, while continuing to push the research and data proving the vaccine is safe for children.
Public health experts who spoke with CBC News believe that improving vaccine uptake among younger Albertans will be key to protecting them from the illness.
Alberta has been behind the rest of Canada since the reporting week of Dec. 25, federal data shows. The latest federal numbers, for the week of Jan. 15, show 39.81 per cent of Alberta children have received their first doses compared to 47.44 per cent of children in British Columbia — the province with the second-lowest rate.
Provincial data shows Alberta's vaccination rate for children aged five to 11 has since increased to 42.5 per cent as of Jan. 20.
"I would definitely love to see the number be a lot higher than it is today, but I am encouraged by the people that have come out and taken that opportunity to protect their kids," said Dr. Kristin Klein, lead medical officer of health for communicable diseases at Alberta Health Services (AHS).
In November, Health Canada approved pediatric doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children ages five to 11. Two doses are recommended, at least eight weeks apart.
CBC News analyzed publicly available COVID-19 child vaccination data from the 132 local geographic areas within the five zones of AHS.
The analysis shows uptake is generally higher in Calgary and Edmonton. The analysis also shows that vaccination rates are lower for young children in areas where vaccination rates are low for people aged 12 and up.
As of Jan. 20, only 23 of the 132 AHS local geographic areas had seen more than half of children aged five to 11 get their first doses of vaccine.
Most of those areas are within the Calgary and Edmonton health zones. The only other areas represented are Jasper, in the North zone, and Lethbridge-West, in the South zone.
Many areas in Alberta have had fewer than one in three children get vaccinated against COVID-19.
Some of those places are in the cities of Edmonton and Calgary. Others include Fort Macleod, Fort McMurray and Red Deer.
A day after two elderly Vancouver Island women told RCMP they had been scammed for thousands of dollars, a man walked into the detachment saying he took their money during his delivery work and was unsure if what he was doing was legal.
Schools across the Hamilton, Niagara, Burlington and Brantford areas are closed today after the area was hit with a winter storm overnight.
All school buses in Windsor and Essex County are cancelled on Thursday morning according to Windsor-Essex Student Transportation Services.
Newly released court documents in the case of Jack and Lilly Sullivan offer more details on the relationship between their mother and stepfather leading up to the children's disappearance more than eight months ago.
Another sawmill in northwestern Ontario is being shut down indefinitely.
Heavy snow throughout the Greater Toronto Area is forcing residents to rethink their Thursday morning schedules due to transit delays and a number of school closures.
Pack your patience and bundle up because Thursday is going to be a snowy and cold day in Waterloo region, Guelph and Wellington County.
An N.W.T. judge has ruled that a complicated dispute involving Lutsel K'e Dene First Nation (LKDFN) and the accounting firm KPMG should mostly be heard in open court, and not through a separate arbitration process.
In military deterrence lingo, what we're witnessing in Greenland is sometimes referred to as the "glass plate" or the "tripwire."
Canada's top court is hearing final arguments on Thursday in a case resurfacing former prime minister Justin Trudeau's role in the WE Charity scandal, which could bring sweeping changes to how Canadians hold their elected officials accountable.
National home sales in Canada declined by 1.9 per cent in December compared to the same period a year earlier, according to a report published by the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) on Wednesday, capping a year that saw lower interest rates but heightened economic anxiety.
Ontario sent a blunt message to U.S. booze suppliers when it yanked their alcohol off its shelves last year, pledging to redirect customers to local producers, and those businesses say they’re trying to make the most of what could be a limited-time opportunity to change buying habits.
While airing video on Wednesday of large funeral processions for some of the people killed during the protests that have recently gripped the country, Iran's state broadcaster blamed the U.S. for whipping up and leading the “terrorist actions.”