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Ontario, October 3 (Conversation) My research covers the ethical and legal aspects and policy implications of childhood vaccinations. The impact of COVID-19 on children has implications for the study. These effects appear to be changing, making the need for widespread COVID-19 vaccination in children even more urgent.
Early in the pandemic, there was evidence that children generally avoided severe COVID-19 infection. That beautiful picture is now fading. Emerging research shows that children’s susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, has increased “in frequency and severity” during the pandemic.
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A newly released study of British Columbia’s Lower Mainland documents a sharp rise in infections among people under the age of 19. The surge in infections in children with this Omicron variant is consistent with estimates from the rest of Canada and beyond.
The increased frequency of infections in children is bound to produce more cases of serious consequences, including hospitalizations and deaths. Children with comorbidities are particularly vulnerable to severe COVID-19 outcomes.
A multi-pronged approach to limiting transmission, including shielding, is recommended rather than any single preventive measure. This could be even more important for upcoming new variants.
However, when a breakthrough infection occurs, vaccination remains one of the best means of preventing serious consequences. Also, getting vaccinated may reduce the likelihood of long-term COVID. The Ontario government recommends vaccinating anyone under the age of 18.
That’s why it’s worrying that minors, especially those under the age of 12, still have low vaccination rates for the main series of two-dose vaccines.
Only 41% of Ontario’s 5- to 11-year-olds have completed their primary school series, compared to the provincial average of 90% of children 12 and older. Few people under the age of 5 receive vaccinations, and in the two months since Health Canada approved the COVID-19 vaccine for this population, only 6 per cent of people have received their first dose. The figures are broadly similar across the country.
Notably, Ontario last fall refused to add COVID-19 to the list of “designated diseases” in its Student Immunization Act, despite some school boards and the opposition Liberals and NDPs supporting the move.
It’s time to revisit this decision.
Adding COVID-19 to the Act would not mandate COVID-19 vaccination for school admissions. Whether childhood vaccines should be mandatory is a separate debate. But it may help address COVID-19 vaccination among school-aged children in the province.
Ontario, New Brunswick and British Columbia are the only jurisdictions in Canada that have vaccination requirements for admission. But in these provinces, minors do not need to be vaccinated to attend day care, elementary or high school.
British Columbia’s statute expressly states that this obligation is only a reporting obligation. Ontario’s requirements are a bit different, as the parent’s role is to “complete the student’s prescribed immunization schedule.” However, this obligation does not apply if the parent “has submitted a statement of conscience or religious belief.”
This means that parents can refuse to vaccinate their children against any or all of the specified diseases by signing and notarizing a government-issued form confirming “good faith”.
In effect, this also makes Ontario’s duty a reporting duty. The situation in New Brunswick is pretty much the same.
The difference between Ontario and New Brunswick, however, is that Ontario requires parents seeking a bona fide waiver to also take an “educational course.” For some, taking this educational session is the real benefit of having COVID-19 listed as a designated disease.
Vaccine hesitancy is thought to be responsible for low COVID-19 vaccine intake. But it’s complicated.
While a small percentage of parents reject all vaccines, more parents are selective about vaccines and are generally more cautious with new vaccines than older ones. In fact, parents’ generally positive attitudes toward routine childhood vaccines, whether in Canada or elsewhere, are not a good indicator of their attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccines.
When it came into effect in Ontario in 2017, the requirement for educational courses for those seeking a bona fide waiver made little difference in attitude, as vaccination rates for designated diseases, while suboptimal, remained generally very high.
The educational curriculum is like a sermon to the hardened minority who make up their minds on the topic. Mandatory education can also backfire, making people’s opinions more entrenched.
However, there is a large gap between the low rates of childhood COVID-19 vaccination and the high rates of routine childhood vaccination.
This suggests that most parents who have so far refused the COVID-19 vaccine are not die-hard anti-vaccine people. This may provide an opportunity for more parents to vaccinate their children.
Research on parental attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccination has progressed rapidly, and there are understandably large gaps. But the overall conclusion is that vaccination campaigns targeting specific populations can increase coverage.
It is unclear whether adding COVID-19 to the list of “designated diseases” in Ontario or elsewhere in Canada will have the desired effect. Of course, the design and content of educational programs are also important.
But a regulatory plan to strengthen “protecting children’s health” has been put in place, and it’s against logic to think the pandemic is not a good time to use it. (dialogue)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from the Syndicated News feed, the body of the content may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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