According to the medical director of health, New Brunswick will be ready to launch COVID-19 vaccines to children under five as soon as they are approved and available.
The province is also working on an early flu vaccination campaign in anticipation of a “higher than normal” flu season this year, said Dr. Jennifer Russell.
In the United States, immunization of infants and preschoolers against COVID-19 began this week after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last Friday authorized the emergency use of Modern and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines in six-month-old children, and centers. for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended the use of vaccines in this age group the next day.
No COVID-19 vaccine has been approved for children under five in Canada. Health Canada is reviewing a Modern application.
“We are looking forward to Health Canada as well as NACI [National Advisory Committee on Immunization] to present their recommendations, “Russell said.
The province “is watching very closely,” he said, and is “ready to act on those when they arrive.”
Russell couldn’t love when that might be it.
“But we are preparing in advance for this inevitability.”
No details yet
Deployment planning is underway, Health Department spokeswoman Michelle Guenard said.
The department works with its primary care partners, including regional health authorities, community pharmacies and the New Brunswick Medical Society, he said.
There are still no other details, such as where the dams will be available or who will manage them.
“Final decisions will be made after Health Canada has approved the vaccine,” Guenard said in an emailed statement. “This includes reviewing a NACI statement and local considerations.”
“Guidance will be provided to those identified as immunizers for vaccines of children under five,” he added. “This includes sharing information from Health Canada, the vaccine provider, NACI and New Brunswick Public Health guidance.”
“Very encouraging”
Russell called the U.S. approval “very encouraging.”
“I think any protection we can offer to the general population is very important,” he said. “This is one of the last pieces, really, that we were expecting.”
The under-five age group is the only one in the province that does not currently have vaccines against COVID-19.
Children from five to 11 years old can be vaccinated from November.
Dr. Jennifer Russell, the province’s medical director of health, said that with COVID-19 vaccines already available to New Brunswick residents five years of age or older, pending approval for children under five is “one of the last pieces” the province has been waiting for. . (Ed Hunter / CBC)
“As we have seen with the older age groups, we hope that vaccines for younger children will provide protection against the most serious outcomes of COVID-19, such as hospitalization and death,” the commissioner said. the FDA, Dr. Robert M. Califf, in a statement. .
“Those who have confidence in the care of children can have confidence in the safety and effectiveness of these vaccines against COVID-19 and can be confident that the agency was thorough in its evaluation of the data,” he said. to say.
The FDA found that the known and potential benefits of the Modern and Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines “outweigh the known and potential risks to pediatric populations.”
According to clinical trial data, the most commonly reported side effects in children aged six months to five years include pain, redness, and swelling at the injection site, fever, and swelling / tension in the armpits (or groin). lymph nodes of the same arm. (or thigh) as an injection.
Itching in cases of flu
A total of 52.7% of eligible New Brunswickers have received a COVID-19 booster vaccine, according to this week’s COVIDWatch report, 88.1% have received two doses and 93.3% n ‘has received a.
The province wants to have as many people protected as possible in the fall, Russell said.
The “pandemic pattern” has been that risks tend to decrease in the summer, when people are more outdoors, physically distant, and increase in the fall and winter, he said.
“I think this correlation is true right now, but you know we are trying to be prepared for anything that happens to us with COVID because there are no guarantees.
“We are aware that we expect a higher than normal flu season this year and will therefore boost our vaccination campaigns soon.”
The red line indicates the growth in the percentage of positive flu tests in New Brunswick. Yellow represents cases of influenza A (H3), while green illustrates cases of influenza A (without subtyping). (New Brunswick Government)
New Brunswick is facing an unusually late flu season, due in part to the lifting of COVID-19 protection measures in March, such as masking.
Typically, the flu season really starts to “take off” in January and “disappears” once the warmer weather begins, said the province’s deputy medical director of health, Dr. Yves Léger.
But nearly a quarter of this season’s cases occurred in a week this month.
In Week 23, which ended on June 11, seventy-three positive cases of influenza were reported, according to the latest available Public Health statistics. Six of the cases required hospitalization.
Two new flu outbreaks were reported in nursing homes and a new flu-like illness outbreak at a school, according to the flu surveillance report.
So far this season, which began on August 29, 2021 and continues until August 27, a total of 302 cases have been recorded. This is an increase from 40 just a month ago.
There have been 60 hospitalizations and four deaths.
“Double” risk.
If the risks of COVID-19 transmission increase in the fall at the same time as the risks of the flu are expected to increase, “then we have, you know, a double type of risk,” Russell said.
“So we want to address that soon and make sure all people who are eligible for the flu shot are also vaccinated.”
The province is also “very eager” to have people who were left behind with their routine vaccines to stay up to date, he said.
“We wouldn’t want to see a resurgence of vaccine-preventable diseases.”