Health Canada has approved Pfizer’s COVID-19 booster vaccine for children five to 11 years old following approval two months ago of the same shot for individuals 12 years and older.
“After a thorough and independent scientific review of the evidence, Health Canada has determined that the Pfizer-BioNTech Comirnaty Omicron BA.4/BA.5 bivalent-adapted booster vaccine for children 5 to 11 years of age is safe and effective and that its benefits outweigh any potential risks,” the department said in a
news release on Dec. 9.
“Bivalent” means that the vaccine causes the immune system to create antibodies against two different strains of COVID-19: the original strain and an Omicron strain.
The announcement comes
several months after Health Canada approved the use of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for children between the ages of six months and 5 years. The federal agency approved Moderna’s vaccine for children of the same age group in July.
“Vaccinating your child does more than protect them. It helps keep communities safe,” said Health Minister
Jean-Yves Duclos on July 14, the day Moderna’s vaccine was approved for Canada’s youngest children.
“I encourage all parents to get their kids vaccinated,” Duclos wrote in a Twitter post.
Federal government statistics on vaccination
as of Oct. 9 showed that less than seven percent of children under five years old received a COVID vaccine
As of Dec. 4, just over 50 percent of Canadians aged 5 and older had received a first booster dose and 23 percent had received a second booster shot.
Duclos addressed
pediatric vaccination in late November, saying that COVID vaccines and boosters for children remain important.
“Vaccination is something that has made a huge difference in COVID-19 and we know it is particularly valuable right now as our children are suffering for all from all sorts of respiratory viruses,” the federal health minister said in Ottawa on Nov. 23.
“Now is the time to get vaccinated and to be protected,” he said, adding, “Christmas is coming, too, so you want to be safer in our family environment.”
