What we know about COVID-19 vaccines for children under 5 in Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia children between six months old and five can now get their first round of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.

The province made the official announcement on July 28. 

"We're not having any prioritization system and we're just opening it up to all children — all ... of that age," Dr. Shelley Deeks, Nova Scotia's deputy chief medical officer of health, told reporters during a phone conference about two weeks ago. 

"Part of that is because we don't know what the demand is going to be. And we know that we're going to get more and more doses as supply comes into [the] country."

Children will need two shots — or three if severely immunocompromized — of the Moderna vaccine, the only one approved for children in that age group in Canada. The doses will need to be at least eight weeks apart. Children will be considered fully vaccinated 14 days after their last dose.

If a child has COVID-19, the appointment should be made eight weeks after the infection, Deeks said.

Infectious disease expert Dr. Lisa Barrett said even if a child had COVID-19, it's still important for them to get vaccinated.

"We do know the most reliable and consistent boosting of your immune response probably happens with vaccine," Barrettt said. "We don't have that data directly in those younger age groups at the moment [because] we're just about to start vaccinating them yet, but that makes reasonable sense."

Parents are advised to make sure their children have their other routine vaccinations before the COVID-19 one is available, Deeks said.

"Now is the time to get them up to date to protect them against those vaccine-preventable diseases. And then they'll be ready to get their dose of Moderna once we have it in the province," she said.

If children are getting other routine pediatric vaccines, the province says those vaccines can only be administered at least 14 days before or after the COVID-19 vaccine.

The province estimates there are around 34,000 children aged six months to four years old in Nova Scotia.