Health authority catching up on baby vaccinations, well-checks still reduced service

The Northwest Territories government is still catching up on delayed routine vaccine appointments for babies and children.

It is also prioritizing only two out of the nine well-child visits that pediatric experts say are valuable check-ins for preventative healthcare.

In total, 54 immunization appointments were backlogged but as of Jan. 26, 31 have been rebooked, wrote NTHSSA spokesperson David Maguire in an email. 

The authority should be back on track by February, he said. 

During the last outbreak in September, the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority announced service reductions that would affect well-child checks.

Week two and week six checks were to continue unless "specific concerns are raised," Maguire said. 

Vaccine appointments for infectious diseases cover far more than immunizations —  they can also be a check-in point for the wellness of a child and help with early detection of any health issues, said Sam Wong, speaking as a past president of the Canadian Pediatric Society.

"Routine vaccinations are a very important part of well-child health … allowing public health and physicians to see and counsel parents about their child," said Wong, who has worked in the N.W.T. as a pediatrician since the early 2000s.

Babies and children may have had fewer interactions with public health across Canada throughout the pandemic, especially when parents initially feared bringing their newborns into public over concerns about transmission of COVID-19, he said.

The Canadian Pediatric Society is "concerned" about delayed vaccinations anywhere in Canada, said Wong. 

Some N.W.T. parents felt the same way when in October, public health began cancelling vaccine appointments to shift staff to flu and COVID-19 vaccine clinics.

Concerned parents told CBC they had to complain online, call their MLA and phone up public health to get their child's appointment rebooked. 

Robin Hamilton took to Facebook when public health cancelled an appointment for her four-month-old daughter to get her rubella, tetanus and whooping cough vaccines. 

At the time, public health delayed her appointment by almost a month. 

Wong said that while COVID-19 is a top concern, babies and children can still experience harmful effects from illnesses that have reduced transmission because of vaccination, but have not been eradicated.

Pertussis (or whooping cough) is one illness that can result in hospitalization for children, said Wong.

"There should be no real delays in provision of these vaccinations and health checks," he said. 

The well-child visit is part of core services identified in the territory's community health standards, and is offered nine times before a child turns five, states the user guide.

The visits help track a child's emotional, physical and social development, feeding and dietary health, and even screens for hearing, it states.

The health authority said service reductions did not affect urgent adult and child immunizations, testing for sexually transmitted infections, the tuberculosis program or newborn vaccinations. 

The health authority did not specify which vaccine appointments were missed, or what immunizations are considered urgent. 

"We also expect staffing to normalize in the coming two weeks and which should allow us to get back to regular services, pending the COVID-19 situation in Yellowknife," Maguire said.