Alberta opens COVID-19 vaccination bookings for children aged 5-11

Alberta parents can start booking COVID-19 vaccine appointments for their children aged five to 11.

Appointment bookings went live Wednesday at 8 a.m.

Details on the provincial rollout were provided at a press conference by Premier Jason Kenney, Health Minister Jason Copping and Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw on Tuesday afternoon.

The province received more than 394,000 pediatric doses of the Pfizer vaccine on Tuesday, with the first batch set to be administered on Friday.

“This is exciting news for hundreds of thousands of families across the province who have been eagerly waiting for vaccine protection for their younger children,” Kenney said.

The vaccinations will take place across 120 AHS clinics and four pharmacies in the province where there are no nearby AHS clinics.

Kenney says children under 12 will still be exempt from the province’s restrictions exemption program regardless of their vaccine status.

“We want parents to take the time they need to assess their situation, review the data and make the best choice for their kids and their family,” Kenney said.

“Alberta’s government is not imposing any kind of deadline on families because we don’t want people to feel rushed or pressured.”

Kenney added kids have had to sacrifice a lot during the pandemic, and he feels it would be unfair to exclude them further.

Vaccine eligibility in Alberta has increased to about 94 per cent, with 391,000 kids ages five to 11 now eligible.

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Health Canada authorized the use of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in children aged five to 11 last week.

A batch of 2.9 million COVID-19 pediatric doses of the Pfizer vaccine landed in Canada Sunday evening.

Pfizer and its partner BioNTech say the results of their trials in children show comparable safety and efficacy results to those recorded in a previous study in adults aged 16 to 25.

Albertans looking to book an appointment for their child can use the online booking tool, or by calling 811.