Toronto preparing to vaccinate kids ages five and up for COVID-19 when the time comes
Toronto Public Health (TPH) announced Monday that it is getting ready to vaccinate children ages five and up.
The agency has formed a “COVID-19 Vaccination Planning Group,” which includes health partners, school boards, community representatives and The Ministry of Health, in order to get ready for the rollout.
Last week, Pfizer released preliminary information from a second phase trial of their COVID-19 vaccine for children between the ages of five and 11.
The Pfizer release stated, "in participants five to 11 years of age, the vaccine was safe, well-tolerated and showed robust neutralizing antibody responses."
On Monday morning, Health Minister Christine Elliott told reporters that the province is awaiting finalization on whether the Pfizer vaccine can be administered to children.
“We're going to take a look at anything that is going to protect people, including young people,” Elliott said,
“We know that the take-up of 12 to 17-year-olds has been very good with respect to receiving the vaccines. Now we're waiting for finalization on whether the Pfizer vaccine ... can be used for children aged five to 11.”
Speaking at Toronto's Board of Health meeting Monday, the city's Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Eileen de Villa, said TPH is trying “to make sure that [they're] ready whenever Health Canada has made their assessment and has provided appropriate approvals for the vaccine."
She says they will be ready to administer the vaccines as early as Nov. 1.
Since students returned to the classroom in early September, transmission of the virus at school has been a top concern.
As of Friday, there were 1,372 known active COVID-19 cases in schools in the province, affecting 750 of Ontario’s 4,844 publicly-funded schools.
On Monday, a school in the Peterborough Victoria Northumberland and Clarington Catholic District School Board announced its closure after at least 11 cases have been tied to an outbreak at Monsignor Leo Clearly Catholic Elementary School.
According to TPH, there are approximately 200,000 children aged five to 11 in the city that would be eligible to get vaccinated.
City of Toronto data shows that 85 per cent of eligible Toronto residents have initiated the vaccine process, while 80 per cent have completed it.
With files from CP24's Codi Wilson.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.