Time ​to get back to the bottom line.

Pfizer's vaccine for children arrives in Canada tomorrow. For those of you who are ready to book an appointment for your child ages 5 to 11 in Guelph Wellington Dufferin, call Public Health: 1-800-265-7293 x7006. They will contact you to book an appointment. We have anticipated the arrival of these vaccines but it may take some time before your child has an appointment. Public health is running their own clinic for these vaccines as well as family physicians and nurses from the Guelph Family Health Team. Appointments at both these clinics can be booked at the above number. Health Canada has approved these vaccines with a 21 day interval between doses. Health Canada can only authorize the use of vaccines according to the original research provided to them by, in this case, Pfizer. In the Pfizer trial, a 21 day interval was used. The National Advisory Committee on Immunizations ( NACI) can make recommendations about vaccines not only based on the original trials from Pfizer but also on real-world research which has shown a more robust response to the vaccines if they are given 8 weeks apart. Health Canada and NACI are not giving conflicting recommendations. Health Canada approves the vaccine, then NACI makes recommendations as to how it should be used. Why should your child get a vaccine? 1/These vaccines are 90.7 % effective. This means that if your child is exposed to the highly infectious delta variant, their risk of becoming infected is reduced by 90.7 %. Does this matter given that children are much less likely to develop serious illness or die from COVID-19? It does. Any risk of serious illness and death from COVID infection is not acceptable, given that these vaccines are so effective at preventing infection and do not cause any serious side effects or death. 2/ Children who are given this vaccine ( almost 3 million in the USA so far) experience fewer and more mild side effects than adults after vaccination. They may experience fatigue, mild headache and pain at the site of the injection which resolve within 24-48 hours. Most have no side effects at all. 3/ These vaccines will get our children back to a normal life and address the 'collateral harms' of the COVID-19 pandemic: prolonged schooling disruptions, social isolation, reduced access to academic and extra-curricular resources, the financial stress and economic burdens on families and the increased stress and anxiety experienced by their parents. All of these effects have had a profound impact on the mental and physical well-being of children and their families. 4/ Vaccinating our children will reduce the community spread of the virus. Children under the age of 12 now represent the group with the highest incidence of new daily cases of COVID 19 in Canada. By vaccinating these children we will help stop community spread and decrease the risk of spread to vulnerable family and friends. Dr. Michelle Forbes, Pediatric Infectious Disease Specialist in London, Ont. "Ultimately not only will we help to keep kids from acute COVID-19 and its consequences, we will keep kids healthy and we will also keep them happy as they are allowed to do in-class learning and extracurricular activities," she said. "This would also help reduce new adult cases in the community resulting from children with school acquisition who go home and infect their parents and grandparents." IN OTHER WORDS: kids can go back to being kids, parents can breathe a sigh of relief, teachers can be teachers, kids can learn again in a safe school environment and families can gather without worrying about spread. The dose of the Pfizer vaccines in kids is one third the dose in adults. Even if your child is an adult sized 11 year old, this dose is still effective. The adult dose is not required. As for kids under the age of 5, Health Canada also expects submissions for vaccines for children under five from both Pfizer and Moderna, but we are not there yet. Even if we could start vaccinated millions of kids tomorrow, it will take months before these children are fully vaccinated. We still have a ways to go. Delta has not changed. It is still so easily transmitted from one person to the next especially indoors. Going back to Christmas as usual could be deadly. Limit the size of indoor gatherings. Get a third dose of a vaccine if you are vulnerable and eligible. Wear a mask and stay distanced especially at indoor public gatherings where the vaccination status of those around you is not known. Anne-Marie Please share. For non-Facebook users, you can find this post here: https://braceletofhope.blogspot.com/