Vaccinating kids, border restrictions and other Covid-19 decisions are expected to be announced today.
Kids Vaccines: It’s expected that the Health Canada will approve the lower dose of the Covid-19 vaccine for kids ages five-11 years old. When announced, it would be the first approval for a lower dose vaccine and it would come from maker Pfizer-BioNTech. They submitted their application to Health Canada back on October 18th. According to reports, the vaccine is doing well among that age group just as it did in studies with adults 16 to 25. Health Canada has said in statements that it would only approve the vaccine for children if the benefits outweighed the potential risks at the conclusion of their analysis.
The US FDA has been using the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in kids since October 29th, and has given over two million shots in arms since then.
Border Restrictions: It’s expected that a federal representative will announce easing of some restrictions when it comes to coming back into Canada. Currently there are many rules for returning residents, including providing a negative PCR test. These tests can cost families hundreds of dollars and have been big deterrents. This policy is set to expire on November 21st.
Many are expecting the announcement today to be that PCR tests will not be required for traveler’s who take trips to the US that are shorter than 72 hours. If trips across the border are longer than 72 hours, molecular tests will still be required to gain re-entry to Canada.
