The majority of children in the Interior Health region are not protected against COVID-19 as youth vaccination rates remain the second lowest in the province.
Vaccines for children ages five to 11 have been available in B.C. since November 2021, but new data from the BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) shows Interior Health’s overall vaccination rates trail the provincial and national averages.
Only 39 per cent of children ages five to 11 as of Oct. 23, have had one dose of the vaccine in Interior Health, which is the second lowest in the province behind Northern Health at 32 per cent.
Interior Health also includes the local health area with the least children vaccinated in B.C. Just 15 per cent of children in the Arrow Lakes area, which includes Nakusp, have had their first dose.
The national average for youth vaccination rates is 53.8 per cent as of Oct. 9, according to Health Canada, however, in B.C. only 51 per cent have had their first dose.
Dr. Sue Pollack, a medical health officer with Interior Health, said Tuesday the region’s vaccination rates for children need to rise. She believes parents remain hesitant about the vaccines, but doesn’t think there is widespread refusal among families to have children inoculated.
“Parents want to do right, they want to do the best thing by their child,” said Pollack.
“Although COVID vaccines are relatively new, I think it’s really important to provide this information that these vaccines for the younger age group have been very widely tested and provided to many, many children around the world. We see very few adverse events.”
Teenagers, meanwhile, have much higher vaccination rates in Interior Health, B.C. and Canada.
Health Canada reported that 83 per cent of the national population has had at least one dose as of Oct. 9. That rises to 89.7 per cent among 12-to-17-year-olds in Canada.
Eighty-three per cent of the same group have had one dose in B.C., while Interior Health trails at 73 per cent.
Pollack said she believes despite 12-to-17 year olds being minors, they are more capable of voicing a desire to be vaccinated which would account for the higher uptake.
Still, the low vaccination rate among children is disappointing but not discouraging for Dr. Devon Greyson.
Greyson, an assistant professor at the University of British Columbia’s School of Population and Public Health, studies how effective the promotion of vaccines is communicated to the public.
Although Greyson believes misinformation about vaccine safety has kept some children from being inoculated, they think there are other reasons for the relative lack of urgency.
Children, for example, are far less likely than adults and seniors to either be hospitalized or die from infection.
Of the 46,389 deaths related to COVID-19 in Canada, just 41 have included kids ages 11 and under, according to Health Canada. The median age of patient hospitalizations in B.C. meanwhile is 68, according to the BCCDC.
Data from BCCDC also shows that Multi-system Inflammatory Syndrome, which has been linked to COVID-19 cases in children and adolescents, has only been detected in 34 cases in B.C. since the start of the pandemic.
Greyson said the families may also not have had their children vaccinated because COVID-19 research is relatively new. By comparison, the measles-mumps-rubella-varicella and polio vaccines that have existed for decades are considered routine for infants in Canada.
What parents should be concerned about, Greyson said, is whether there will be long-term consequences to a COVID-19 infection.
“We don’t know yet if COVID will be like measles or polio viruses where you can get complications many years down the line after everything seems to be recovered. We just won’t know until 20 years from now, probably. Is there any sort of long-term risk of COVID infection like that for children especially? We don’t know.
“Just the lack of information that we have makes a lot of space for fear and misinformation.”
As hospitalizations have fallen in B.C., public health orders have also done away with most COVID-19-specific preventative measures in schools. Gone are visitor restrictions, changes to classroom layouts and mandatory masks.
Instead, the virus is now considered a communicable disease like the flu. In practice that means in-person learning, encouraging students to wash their hands, keeping windows open when possible and asking staff and students to remain home if they are sick.
Voluntary vaccinations against viruses such as Hepatitis B and chicken pox are made available to Grade 6 and 9 students at B.C. schools. Pollack said Interior Health has considered adding COVID-19 vaccines to school clinics, but for now, is asking parents to instead visit public health units.
Greyson worries there hasn’t been enough research to suggest a return to pre-pandemic school settings was a safe policy decision. Should the COVID-19 health protocols have stayed in place? Greyson doesn’t know.
“Right now it feels more like a values question than a question to which there is a clear, scientific answer that will work for the majority of people.”
VANCOUVER – Mayors and other leaders from several British Columbia communities say the provincial and federal governments need to take “immediate action” to tackle mental health and public safety issues that have reached crisis levels.
Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim says it’s become “abundantly clear” that mental health and addiction issues and public safety have caused crises that are “gripping” Vancouver, and he and other politicians, First Nations leaders and law enforcement officials are pleading for federal and provincial help.
In a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier David Eby, mayors say there are “three critical fronts” that require action including “mandatory care” for people with severe mental health and addiction issues.
The letter says senior governments also need to bring in “meaningful bail reform” for repeat offenders, and the federal government must improve policing at Metro Vancouver ports to stop illicit drugs from coming in and stolen vehicles from being exported.
Sim says the “current system” has failed British Columbians, and the number of people dealing with severe mental health and addiction issues due to lack of proper care has “reached a critical point.”
Vancouver Police Chief Adam Palmer says repeat violent offenders are too often released on bail due to a “revolving door of justice,” and a new approach is needed to deal with mentally ill people who “pose a serious and immediate danger to themselves and others.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024
The Canadian government says it will donate up to 200,000 vaccine doses to fight the mpox outbreak in Congo and other African countries.
It says the donated doses of Imvamune will come from Canada’s existing supply and will not affect the country’s preparedness for mpox cases in this country.
Minister of Health Mark Holland says the donation “will help to protect those in the most affected regions of Africa and will help prevent further spread of the virus.”
Dr. Madhukar Pai, Canada research chair in epidemiology and global health, says although the donation is welcome, it is a very small portion of the estimated 10 million vaccine doses needed to control the outbreak.
Vaccine donations from wealthier countries have only recently started arriving in Africa, almost a month after the World Health Organization declared the mpox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.
A few days after the declaration in August, Global Affairs Canada announced a contribution of $1 million for mpox surveillance, diagnostic tools, research and community awareness in Africa.
On Thursday, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said mpox is still on the rise and that testing rates are “insufficient” across the continent.
Jason Kindrachuk, Canada research chair in emerging viruses at the University of Manitoba, said donating vaccines, in addition to supporting surveillance and diagnostic tests, is “massively important.”
But Kindrachuk, who has worked on the ground in Congo during the epidemic, also said that the international response to the mpox outbreak is “better late than never (but) better never late.”
“It would have been fantastic for us globally to not be in this position by having provided doses a much, much longer time prior than when we are,” he said, noting that the outbreak of clade I mpox in Congo started in early 2023.
Clade II mpox, endemic in regions of West Africa, came to the world’s attention even earlier — in 2022 — as that strain of virus spread to other countries, including Canada.
Two doses are recommended for mpox vaccination, so the donation may only benefit 100,000 people, Pai said.
Pai questioned whether Canada is contributing enough, as the federal government hasn’t said what percentage of its mpox vaccine stockpile it is donating.
“Small donations are simply not going to help end this crisis. We need to show greater solidarity and support,” he said in an email.
“That is the biggest lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic — our collective safety is tied with that of other nations.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
HALIFAX – The Nova Scotia government says it could be months before it reveals how many people are on the wait-list for a family doctor.
The head of the province’s health authority told reporters Wednesday that the government won’t release updated data until the 160,000 people who were on the wait-list in June are contacted to verify whether they still need primary care.
Karen Oldfield said Nova Scotia Health is working on validating the primary care wait-list data before posting new numbers, and that work may take a matter of months. The most recent public wait-list figures are from June 1, when 160,234 people, or about 16 per cent of the population, were on it.
“It’s going to take time to make 160,000 calls,” Oldfield said. “We are not talking weeks, we are talking months.”
The interim CEO and president of Nova Scotia Health said people on the list are being asked where they live, whether they still need a family doctor, and to give an update on their health.
A spokesperson with the province’s Health Department says the government and its health authority are “working hard” to turn the wait-list registry into a useful tool, adding that the data will be shared once it is validated.
Nova Scotia’s NDP are calling on Premier Tim Houston to immediately release statistics on how many people are looking for a family doctor. On Tuesday, the NDP introduced a bill that would require the health minister to make the number public every month.
“It is unacceptable for the list to be more than three months out of date,” NDP Leader Claudia Chender said Tuesday.
Chender said releasing this data regularly is vital so Nova Scotians can track the government’s progress on its main 2021 campaign promise: fixing health care.
The number of people in need of a family doctor has more than doubled between the 2021 summer election campaign and June 2024. Since September 2021 about 300 doctors have been added to the provincial health system, the Health Department said.
“We’ll know if Tim Houston is keeping his 2021 election promise to fix health care when Nova Scotians are attached to primary care,” Chender said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
