Plan for teen vaccinations, second doses to be released Thursday

Teenagers in Canada can now roll up their sleeves for one of the COVID-19 vaccines, and Saskatchewan’s government is expecting to give details Thursday around how that will roll out.

“Saskatchewan people can expect that we’ll be heading in the direction, to move our age for Pfizer vaccinations down to 12 years of age,” Premier Scott Moe said Wednesday.

On Wednesday morning, Health Canada approved the Pfizer vaccine for use in people as young as 12.

Moe said minors getting the vaccine would obviously involve things like parental consent. He said there are also decisions to be made on how the shots will be rolled out to teens, but Moe pointed out there is an infrastructure in place.

“Public health does offer vaccination programs in our school system already, and so they are familiar with what they need to do to deliver these vaccines,” said Moe.

Having more people eligible for the vaccine will require more doses but Moe is confident in the province’s supply.

“The bulk of the vaccines that we’ll receiving in May are Pfizer vaccines, and Pfizer has proven time and time again throughout this pandemic to be one of the most reliable suppliers that we have had access to,” said Moe.

Second doses

Moe also said the plan for how people will get their second doses of the COVID vaccines will be released on Thursday.

When releasing the reopening plan for this summer, Moe said the province will pivot quickly to second doses once the uptake in first doses slows down.

Several thousand people in the province, and especially in Regina, received AstraZeneca for their first shot. Because the future supply of that vaccine is unknown right now, Moe said the next shipment of that will likely go to second doses.