Nova Scotia ready to roll out COVID-19 vaccines to young kids once they’re approved

Health Canada will soon decide whether or not to approve Moderna’s vaccine for kids aged six months to five years

Citynews halifax \ Meghan Groff

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Nova Scotia will be ready to roll out COVID-19 vaccines to those under the age of 5 once they get the go ahead.

Health Canada said it is currently reviewing Moderna’s vaccine for kids aged six months to five years.

Each of the two doses is a quarter of its adult dose and would be given four weeks apart.

On Tuesday, the agency tweeted it expects to decide whether or not to approve Moderna’s application by mid-July.

At a media briefing Monday, the province’s chief medical officer of health said that would be the first step to getting young children vaccinated.

“Then we know the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) is lined up to make their recommendations on the use of COVID vaccines for that age group very quickly once it’s licensed by Health Canada,” explained Dr. Robert Strang.

“We are ready to go with a plan to roll out access to vaccine once it is licensed and there are recommendations from NACI.”

Health Canada has also received a submission from Pfizer-BioNTech for its vaccine for children between the ages of six months and four years old.

That came in on June 23 and a spokesperson for the agency told the Canadian Press it is still working out a timeline to review the application.

With files from Canadian Press