All Manitobans 12 and up are now eligible to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Manitobans 12-17 now qualify for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the province said in a news release this morning.
"We believe this will help us protect even more people, more families, more communities from the third wave of COVID-19," said Dr. Joss Reimer, medical lead of the provincial task force, during a Friday technical briefing.
Reimer will join Dr. Jazz Atwal, deputy chief provincial public health officer, for a 12:30 p.m. COVID-19 news conference. CBC News will live stream that update here and on Twitter, Facebook and CBC Gem.
Manitoba is the first province or territory to extend eligibility to those under the age of 18, according to the province. Officials previously said to expect eligibility to open up to those 12 and up by May 21.
The move comes on the heels of a big bump in vaccines delivered to the province, with hundreds of thousands more doses anticipated to arrive in the coming weeks, primarily of Pfizer and Moderna.
Those 12 to 15 can attend with a parent, guardian or caregiver. A parent can also sign a consent form ahead of time and they can go alone, Reimer said.
Some minors may go to an immunization site without a guardian or consent form. In those cases, Reimer said they will be able to go through the informed consent form with a medical professional at the clinic, who will assess their ability to consent on their own and decide whether to permit them to be vaccinated, Reimer said.
Reimer also delivered a messaged aimed at this group.
"When we are immunized, we slow the spread of COVID-19. We protect ourselves and the people around us so that we can get back to the activities and the people we love," she said.
The Pfizer vaccine has been tested and found to be safe for older children. There were no safety concerns from trials in minors, Reimer said.
Moderna has run trials and is also expected to apply for emergency use approval for minors soon, Reimer said.
If future studies show the vaccine is safe and effective in children under 12, Manitoba would consider expanding eligibility again, Reimer said.
"It depends on what they discover when they do the trial," she said, referring to Pfizer plans to provide the vaccine to those six months and up.
Manitobans 18 and up became eligible on Wednesday.
So far, about 49 per cent of Manitoba adults have received at least one dose, the provincial immunization tracker says.
The province is still deciding whether to lump in vaccination numbers of those 12-17 with overall tracking on the provincial immunization dashboard, or whether to offer a separate tracker for minors, Reimer said.
More to come
Read the previous story below:
Manitoba health officials are expected to share details about vaccine rollout and the latest COVID-19 trends today.
The medical lead of Manitoba's vaccine rollout, Dr. Joss Reimer, will speak at a vaccine technical briefing for media at 9 a.m.
Reimer will then join Dr. Jazz Atwal, deputy chief provincial public health officer, for a 12:30 p.m. COVID-19 news conference. CBC News will live stream that update here and on Twitter, Facebook and CBC Gem.
Manitoba has broken several worrying records and announced new plans for the rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine this week.
The majority of the province's AstraZeneca doses will now be reserved for second-dose appointments for those who have already received one. The vaccine team hasn't ruled out giving some a second dose of some other vaccine.
Reimer said Wednesday the decision to pause first doses was related to recent news about AstraZeneca as well as supply issues. Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia made similar announcements this week.
Preliminary findings from a U.K. study also came out this week on the potential mixing and matching of vaccines such as Pfizer, which is an mRNA-based product, and AstraZeneca, which uses a viral vector technology.
Reimer hinted Wednesday that Manitoba was waiting for results from a study abroad on this to inform decisions about mixing and matching vaccines.
All Manitoba adults became eligible to be vaccinated on Wednesday. Eligibility is expected to open up to everyone 12 and up by May 21.
As the vaccine campaign has ramped up thanks to a recent boost in shipments mostly of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations have also soared.
Manitoba broke its single-day record for cases yesterday with 560; the previous record of 546 was set in November during the second wave.
Manitoba now has the second-highest infection rate of all the provinces, and surpassed 1,000 deaths due to COVID-19 this week.
Hospital numbers started shooting up about two weeks ago. There were 240 COVID-19 patients in hospital yesterday, compared to 185 a week earlier.
Intensive care unit capacity in the province is creeping close to the second wave high of 129 patients in ICU because of COVID-19 and other conditions.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiVmh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmNiYy5jYS9uZXdzL2NhbmFkYS9tYW5pdG9iYS9tYW5pdG9iYS1jb3ZpZC0xOS11cGRhdGUtbWF5LTE0LTIwMjEtMS42MDI2NDg10gEgaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuY2JjLmNhL2FtcC8xLjYwMjY0ODU?oc=5
2021-05-14 14:41:53Z
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