Sask. children 12 and older to be eligible for vaccines next week, school-based shots likely in early June

If all goes according to plan, adolescents 12 and older in Saskatchewan will become eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine next week, leaving some parents wondering how best to get their child vaccinated.

"I kind of worry that it's going to be like when the teacher vaccines rolled out and it was a free-for-all," said Michelle Grodecki, a teacher who has twin 12-year-old boys and an eight-year-old son.

"I can't imagine what it's going to be like for the kids. I hope it's more organized in that regard." 

Grodecki said the province needs to do a better job of communicating its plans to parents.

According to the Saskatchewan government website, youth aged 16 and older are expected to be eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday, May 18. 

Kids 12 and older are expected to become eligible Thursday, May 20. In total, about 91,000 youth between the ages of 12 and 17 are expected to be eligible for the vaccine next week.

Those dates were made available last week after Health Canada approved the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for use in adolescents 12 and older. 

In a news conference, Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) CEO Scott Livingstone said the province is working on a plan to vaccinate children 12 and older in schools starting in early June.

That leaves a roughly two-week gap between an adolescent's vaccine eligibility and the province's planned rollout of its vaccination blitz in schools. 

Livingstone said families can choose to get their children vaccinated prior to the school-based rollout. 

"So we will be seeing some kids trickle in to our other immunization programs, either drive-thrus or booked clinics or pharmacies, which is fully acceptable and will take some of the case numbers away when we go into schools," Livingstone said.

Both the Regina Catholic School Division and Regina Public Schools said they are working with the SHA to develop a school-based vaccination plan, but that it was too early to discuss details. 

Grodecki said she would prefer to get her children vaccinated in school, leaving appointments open to those who aren't currently attending classes in-person. 

She also said the drive-thru is not a good option for her children, as one is scared of needles.

"Every year we go for our flu shot and it's always like this huge production. So to sit in the drive thru for six hours, I don't know that that's going to be the best use of our time or best for his mental health."

Pharmacies allowing people to pre-register prior to eligibility

Andrew Gilbertson, a pharmacist and owner of Hill Avenue Drugs in Regina, said his pharmacy is allowing people to register children prior to their age-category being eligible through the website bookmyshot.com. 

"You can register, but I cannot personally send you a booking invite until the person is of age," he said, adding that pre-registering puts people to the front of the list once they are eligible.

Gilbertson said his vaccine waitlist is filling up and advised people to register sooner rather than later.

"We're finding a lot of people are booking at multiple places and hopefully cancelling out appointments. For the school-aged kids on our booking websites, I'm sure I've got some 12-year-olds already registered. 

Brock Lumbard, a Western University software engineering student from Regina, recently created an app that lets people text their postal code and receive info on the nearest vaccine availability. The service is free of charge.

The system compiles data from the SHA website, private pharmacies, drive-thru locations, walk-in clinics and government-run appointments and gives people the closest availability. So far, about 22,000 people have texted for vaccine information.

Lumbard said people need to wait until they are eligible for most vaccine appointments, but can pre-register at some private pharmacies.

Anyone wanting to use Lumbard's app to find the nearest available vaccine can text (306) 517-7062.