Pfizer seeks approval of Covid-19 vaccine use on children in Canada
Rowena Papasin | TFC News Canada
Posted at Oct 06 2021 05:25 PM
Pfizer and its partner company BioNTech are expected to formally ask Health Canada by mid-October, for approval on the use of its Covid-19 vaccine on young children.
Preliminary data submitted by Pfizer to Health Canada showed a positive response from kids. With the Delta wave crushing many Canadian provinces, Health Minister Patty Hajdu assured the public that the government regulators will quickly review the applications once these are ready.
“We’ll have to wait and see how quickly the company applies to Canada. Certainly, I know those conversations are happening and when they do, we will be able to quickly review the data and approve when fairly demonstrated as safe,” Hajdu asserted.
Pfizer said vaccines for children will just be one-third of the amount given to adults. But Filipino Canadian grandmother Susan Narce, who is fully vaccinated, is still wary about the possible side effects of the vaccines on kids. “We adults already suffered so much sa reaction, then how much more sa mga bata? (We adults already suffered so much from the reaction, then how much more for the kids?),” Narce pointed out.
But Health Canada maintains that the benefit from the vaccine still outweighs the risks. Of the more than 55 million doses administered in Canada, .031% or more than 17,000 cases of adverse reactions were reported. Of this, .008% or more than 4,000 are considered serious.
Canada’s chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam asserts safety will be the most important consideration before they approve any vaccine for kids.
Meanwhile, the mask mandate for children that was initially limited to two school districts in British Columbia has been imposed province-wide since October 4. Authorities say this will help protect children against the Delta variant, and many Filipino Canadian parents support the requirement. Vancouver resident Froilan Gomez notes his daughter herself has no problems with wearing a mask. “Okay lang sa kanya… kasi hindi natin alam yung ibang mga bata na hindi sila sanay na may mask sila (It’s fine with her… because we don’t know about the other kids, they may not be okay with wearing masks),” Gomez says.
Another Vancouver resident, Nonie Mendoza, argues “kahit na anong edad yan, dapat naka-mask kasi yung pandemic, hindi natin alam kung anong kaaway (Whatever the age, you should be wearing a mask because this pandemic, we don’t really know who the enemy is).”
