Toronto Doctor Vaccinated Hundreds of Kids Under 5: Report

Toronto Doctor Vaccinated Hundreds of Kids Under 5: Report
A young child receives a COVID-19 vaccine during the second day of vaccination for children aged five- to 11-years old in Montreal, on Nov. 25, 2021. The Canadian Press/Paul Chiasson
Andrew Chen
Updated:

A Toronto physician has administered COVID-19 vaccines to hundreds of children under the age of five, according to a report, though Health Canada has not authorized the vaccines for this age group.

Dr. Christopher Sun, a family doctor who practices in Weston-Mount Dennis northwest of Toronto, told the Toronto Star that he administered COVID-19 vaccines to roughly 500 ineligible kids between the ages of six months and five years during a three-month period, until public health officials intervened in March 2022.

Sun said he believes himself to be “one of the only people in Ontario” who was vaccinating children under five “off label,” a decision he made after some parents started making requests for their kids to get the shot in late December 2021, with the onset of the Omicron wave.

Currently, Health Canada has approved the Pfizer-BioNTech Comirnaty vaccine for children aged 5 to 11 years old and the Moderna Spikevax vaccine for children 6 to 11 years old. Kids under the age of five remain ineligible for these vaccines.

“I put my neck on the line and did what I wanted to get done, which was to protect children,” Sun said in the article published on May 27.

The Epoch Times reached out to Sun for comment but didn’t hear back.

Sun told the Star he had informed the parents of the kids under five who came to him that the vaccines had not been approved by Health Canada for that age group, outlined the available Pfizer data, and asked for verbal informed consent.

While he said he told the parents that the vaccines still have unknown effects on the youngest children, he also pointed to Pfizer trial data that he said showed the vaccines have “quite a good immune response in kids who were six months to two years old in terms of antibody levels.”

In March 2022, Toronto Public Health asked Sun to stop vaccinating children under five and reported him to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO), the Star reported. The CPSO is the self-regulating body for the province’s medical professionals.

Sun said after the intervention he continued to vaccinate kids in this age group until the end of that month. He also said the CPSO interviewed him but dismissed concerns about his actions.

The Epoch Times reached out to the CPSO for comment but didn’t hear back.

One recent high-profile case of CPSO intervention was that of an Ontario family physician Dr. Patrick Phillips, who had his license temporarily suspended for prescribing ivermectin to patients. Phillips had been outspoken against the federal and provincial governments’ COVID-19 mandates and an advocate for patients who requested vaccine exemptions.
In September 2021, the CPSO imposed interim restrictions on Phillips for refusing to co-operate with its investigation into his alleged spreading of misinformation in connection to COVID-19, while prohibiting him from prescribing medicines including ivermectin, fluvoxamine, and atorvastatin.

Phillips, whose primary location of practice was the Englehart and District Hospital, said previously that the suspension of his license by the CPSO on May 3 came “without notice.” He was barred from issuing prescription repeats, completing medical workups, and interpreting test results, and was forced to close his business.

Health Canada has urged Canadians not to use veterinary or human versions of ivermectin, an anti-parasitic agent, for the treatment of COVID-19, though some doctors have suggested using the medicine for the early prevention and treatment of the virus.