Pfizer-BioNTech Vaccine: Approved For 12+
Written by Jeremy Zafran on 5 May 2021
Health Canada says the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is now safe to give to children ages 12 and up. The federal health agency has announced it has approved the vaccine for children 12 to 15, after initially authorizing it for those 16 and older.
Lisa Westaway is the Executive Director of the Kateri Memorial Hospital Center (KMHC):
“Very thrilled. We expected this to happen shortly and we are thrilled with the news. It means we will have added protection for our younger kids, who happen to be those that are most being touched right now by Covid within the community, so this is good news and will have a really positive impact on return to school in September, we hope.”
In clinical trials on 12 to 15-year-olds, the vaccine was found to be 100 percent effective. Westaway does not yet know when the vaccines will be arriving in Kahnawake, but it appears to be sooner rather than later:
“As soon as the announcement was made and even before we were already having discussions with Quebec with the’ CISSS-M-O’, with the Ministry, with the Feds as well so we’ll be giving more news about that shortly we hope to get vaccines for 12 to 16 year-olds as soon as possible while we continue to work on 2nd doses as well for our community which we hope to have soon, also.”
