{"id":80854,"date":"2022-10-03T10:20:32","date_gmt":"2022-10-03T14:20:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=80854"},"modified":"2024-09-01T09:54:38","modified_gmt":"2024-09-01T13:54:38","slug":"braley-rattai-adding-covid-19-to-designated-diseases-could-boost-vaccine-uptake-among-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2022\/10\/braley-rattai-adding-covid-19-to-designated-diseases-could-boost-vaccine-uptake-among-children\/","title":{"rendered":"BRALEY-RATTAI: Adding COVID-19 to \u2018designated diseases\u2019 could boost vaccine uptake among children"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article written by Alison Braley-Rattai, Associate Professor in Brock University’s Department of Labour Studies, was originally published in The Conversation<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

My research includes\u00a0the moral and legal aspects<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0policy implications<\/a>\u00a0of childhood vaccination. COVID-19\u2019s effects on children has an impact on that research. And these effects appear to be changing, making the need for widespread COVID-19 vaccine uptake among children more urgent.<\/p>\n

Early in the pandemic, evidence suggested children\u00a0generally avoided severe COVID-19 infections<\/a>. That rosier picture is now fading. Emerging research signals that children\u2019s susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, has increased in\u00a0\u201cfrequency and severity\u201d<\/a>\u00a0over the course of the pandemic.<\/p>\n

One newly released study of British Columbia\u2019s Lower Mainland chronicles the\u00a0dramatic rise in infections among those under 19<\/a>. This surge in childhood infection with the Omicron variant is consistent with\u00a0estimates in other parts of Canada<\/a>\u00a0and beyond<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Increased frequency of infections among children will necessarily yield a\u00a0greater number of cases with severe outcomes<\/a>, including\u00a0hospitalizations and deaths<\/a>. Children with co-morbidities are\u00a0especially vulnerable<\/a>\u00a0to severe COVID-19 outcomes.<\/p>\n

Like adults, children can also suffer from long COVID that can\u00a0damage their lungs<\/a>,\u00a0their brains<\/a>\u00a0and create a host of other\u00a0health problems<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Low vaccination uptake among minors<\/h2>\n

A\u00a0multi-pronged approach<\/a>\u00a0to restrict transmission,\u00a0including masking<\/a>, is advised over any one single preventive measure. This is likely even more important with\u00a0new variants<\/a>\u00a0on the horizon.<\/p>\n

Yet vaccination remains one of the\u00a0best means to protect against severe outcomes<\/a>\u00a0when\u00a0breakthrough infection<\/a>\u00a0occurs. Additionally, vaccination\u00a0may decrease the likelihood<\/a>\u00a0of long COVID. The\u00a0Ontario government recommends vaccination<\/a>\u00a0for those under 18.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why it\u2019s alarming that vaccine uptake among minors of the primary series of two doses, particularly for those under 12,\u00a0remains low<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Compared to the\u00a0provincial average of 90 per cent for those 12 and above<\/a>, only 41 per cent of Ontario children aged five to 11 have completed their primary series. Uptake among those under five is almost non-existent, with just six per cent receiving their first doses in the two months since Health Canada approved a COVID-19 vaccine for this cohort. Numbers across the country are roughly similar.<\/p>\n

Notably, Ontario\u00a0declined to add COVID-19<\/a>\u00a0to the list of \u201cdesignated diseases\u201d in its\u00a0Immunization of School Pupils Act<\/a>\u00a0last fall, despite\u00a0support for this move by some school boards<\/a>\u00a0and both\u00a0the opposition Liberals<\/a>\u00a0and NDP<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s time to revisit that decision.<\/p>\n

Adding COVID-19 to the act will not make COVID-19 vaccination mandatory for school entry. Whether childhood vaccines should be mandatory\u00a0is a separate debate<\/a>. But it may, nonetheless, help address the COVID-19 vaccine uptake among the province\u2019s school-aged children.<\/p>\n

Vaccine requirements for school entry<\/h2>\n

Ontario,\u00a0New Brunswick<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0British Columbia<\/a>\u00a0are the only Canadian jurisdictions that have vaccination requirements for school entry. But minors aren\u2019t required in any of those provinces to be vaccinated to attend day care, elementary or high school.<\/p>\n

British Columbia\u2019s regulation explicitly makes the duty a\u00a0reporting<\/em>\u00a0one only. Ontario requirements are somewhat different, as the parental duty is to\u00a0\u201ccause the pupil to complete the prescribed program of immunization.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0Yet the duty does not apply where the parent \u201chas filed a statement of conscience or religious belief.\u201d<\/p>\n

This means a parent can refuse to have their child vaccinated against any or all of the designated diseases by signing and having notarized a government-issued form affirming a\u00a0\u201csincere belief.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

In practical terms, this makes the duty a reporting one in Ontario as well. The situation in New Brunswick is\u00a0virtually the same<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Where Ontario and New Brunswick differ, however, is that Ontario requires that parents seeking a sincere-belief exemption also attend an \u201ceducation session.\u201d\u00a0For some, access to this education session is the real benefit of listing COVID-19 among the designated diseases<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Vaccine hesitancy and COVID-19<\/h2>\n

Vaccine hesitancy is attributed as the cause for low vaccine uptake when it comes to COVID-19. But it\u2019s complicated.<\/p>\n

While a small percentage of parents reject all vaccines, many more are\u00a0selective about vaccines<\/a>\u00a0and are generally more cautious about newer ones than older ones. In fact, generally positive parental attitudes about routine childhood vaccines are a poor indicator of their attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccines, both\u00a0in Canada<\/a>\u00a0and elsewhere<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When it came into effect in Ontario in 2017, the requirement to undergo an education session for those seeking a sincere-belief exemption made little difference in attitude because vaccine uptake against the designated diseases,\u00a0while less than optimal<\/a>, was still generally high.<\/p>\n

And education sessions can be like sermons to that dogged minority whose minds are made up on the topic. Mandatory education\u00a0can also be counterproductive<\/a>\u00a0and cause people to become more entrenched in their opinions.<\/p>\n

However, there is a very large gap between low childhood vaccination rates for COVID-19 and the high rates for routine childhood vaccines.<\/p>\n

Not anti-vaxxers<\/h2>\n

This suggests that most parents who have so far refused COVID-19 shots are not hard-core anti-vaxxers. This may provide an opening to sway more parents to have their children vaccinated.<\/p>\n

Research about parental attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccination is fast-moving, and understandably there are large gaps. But the general conclusion is that vaccination campaigns targeted to specific demographics can increase uptake.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear whether adding COVID-19 to the list of \u201cdesignated diseases\u201d in Ontario or elsewhere in Canada would have the desired effect. And certainly the design and content of education sessions matter.<\/p>\n

But it defies logic to have a regulatory scheme already in place committed to increasing \u201cthe protection of the health of children\u201d and decide that a pandemic is not a good time to use it.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alison Braley-Rattai, Associate Professor in Brock University’s Department of Labour Studies, recently wrote a piece for The Conversation that argues COVID-19 should be added to provincial lists of \u201cdesignated diseases\u201d for which vaccination is recommend for schoolchildren because it could help spur vaccination.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":80855,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7,6,1,38],"tags":[7114,110,522],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80854"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80854"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80854\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80856,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80854\/revisions\/80856"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}