SASKATOON -- A Saskatoon mom feels her chronically ill son is being forgotten in the province’s COVID-19 vaccination plan.
Jaime Halls’ son Jack was born prematurely and has many medical conditions including scoliosis, chronic lung disease and asthma. He has also had recent spinal surgery.
Halls said she’s finding it hard to get answers from doctors about how Jack can be protected from COVID-19. If members of their family could get the vaccine, that would allow them to live without fear of Jack getting the disease and risk dying.
“What about all these kids that need to be protected. Being a family of a medically compromised kid, isn’t going to change until they can get the vaccine and be protected,” Halls told CTV News.
She says she wants patients like her son and many others in high-risk categories to be considered earlier or have family members vaccinated to reduce the risk of giving COVID-19 to the vulnerable.
Vaccines are not approved for children under 16 because the clinical trials of the Pfizer drug in particular have been prioritizing adults which is due to the data that children are less affected by the virus.
The CEO of the Saskatchewan Health Authority, Scott Livingstone, says phase one of the rollout is specific and finalized.
“As far as the general public inquiring, when it’s their turn, I just want to remind people that’s it’s very targeted,” Livingstone said in a news conference.
Once phase two gets underway in the spring and more vaccine starts flowing, there will be more opportunity and more vaccination clinics up and running, he said.
