Even if there are still many unknowns, the Legault government is already organizing the vaccination of 650,000 children aged 5 to 11 against COVID-19. The campaign has been in preparation since September.
” The folder [de Pfizer-BioNTech] has been submitted to Health Canada, but we have not yet seen all the efficacy and safety data, ”recalled the Chairman of the Quebec Immunization Committee, Nicholas Brousseau. We will therefore have to wait for the analysis of this information before the committee can decide on the benefits and risks of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Clinical trial data was submitted to the federal government earlier this month.
In his opening speech Tuesday, Prime Minister François Legault pledged to lift the state of health emergency after the vaccination of children aged 5 to 11, which he sees at the start of 2022. “It is a lot going forward in a context where we have not seen the data, where we do not have anyone’s recommendations for the vaccination of children, ”observed pediatrician Caroline Quach-Thanh, microbiologist-infectious disease specialist at CHU Sainte-Justine. “I think we can at least wait to have the recommendations of the various Canadian and Quebec advisory committees before saying that this will be part of the rest of the measures in place. “
Health Canada’s chief medical adviser Supriya Sharma said Friday the manufacturer has not received any guarantees that Health Canada will approve the vaccine for children. “We will only allow it if it meets the highest standards to ensure that the benefits outweigh the risk,” she said.
Pfizer-BioNTech said on Friday that its vaccine is 90.7% effective in preventing symptoms of COVID-19 in children 5 to 11 years old.
Risk management
The big unknown, however, is the risk of myocarditis. “We saw all the same that we had one case in about 50,000 in the general population,” she explained. There are a little more in the younger population aged 12 to 30. Now, are the kids going to react the same as the teens? We do not know. “
The dose for children 5 to 11 years old is about a third of that given to adolescents and adults, which may reduce the risk. “Vaccinating young people has the potential to reduce the circulation of the virus in the general population, but the important message is that the vaccine must be beneficial for the children themselves,” said the Dr Brousseau. So there must be more advantages than disadvantages to vaccination. “
“Parents need to ask themselves what risk they are willing to tolerate on either side,” said Dr.D Quach-Thanh. Risk tolerance is very personal. For now, children are at low risk of developing severe symptoms, but the arrival of a new variant, as was the case with adults with Delta, could be a game-changer.
However, immunizing children aged 5 to 11 could have the advantage of protecting other family members who are more vulnerable, such as grandparents aged 75 and over who remain at risk even if they are doubly vulnerable. vaccinated. It could also give some peace of mind to parents who don’t have to run to the clinic for a runny nose.
“Wave of the unvaccinated”
“Right now in Quebec, one in five COVID infections is in children under the age of 12,” said Dr.r Jesse Papenburg, pediatric infectious disease specialist at the Montreal Children’s Hospital. So the proportion of infections is growing for this age group, and the fourth wave is a wave of the unvaccinated. Hospitalizations are infrequent – only 3% – but the doctor believes that there would still be “a direct benefit” to eliminate them, given the great effectiveness of messenger RNA vaccines in reducing severe symptoms.
Neither Prime Minister François Legault nor the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, wanted to advance earlier this week on the ideal threshold for vaccination coverage. It would be 85% for the entire population, including children aged 0 to 4, according to the DD Quach-Thanh. This coverage is currently 76.5%, according to the latest data from the National Institute of Public Health (INSPQ).
The Department of Health and Social Services indicated by email that it is preparing to “come into play” as soon as it has obtained the recommendations of Public Health. The vaccination campaign for children aged 5 to 11 will be carried out as for adolescents. Parents will therefore have the choice of having their children inoculated at school or by making an appointment at a vaccination center.