Vaccination of adolescents, young and old
Do you know when 17-year-old CEGEP students will be invited to be vaccinated?
Isabel Lavoy
In this large age group of 12-17 years who will be called in for vaccination very soon (details will be announced on Thursday), we find 17-year-old “senior teens” who are already in CEGEP, plus 12 – “young teens” adults One-year-old who finished primary school. So far, the focus has been on high school vaccination clinics, before the end of the school year. So what will happen to teens who don’t go to high school?
Via email, the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS) informed us, “A young person can be vaccinated through his school or by an appointment that he himself sets. […] Or by his parents or guardian. ”When the appointments are open for this group, it will be possible for the teenager to make an appointment at the vaccination center using the Clic Santé website.
Note that a 14-year-old teen can legally consent to vaccination, thus setting his own appointment. For children between the ages of 12 and 13, the consent of a parent (or guardian) is required.
Thus the vaccination can take place at the open vaccination site or in the school. Indeed, MSSS defines, “From the moment a vaccination campaign begins for children aged 12-17 years, all young people will be cared for through the school environment, regardless of which school they reside in.”
The Ministries of Health and Education are developing “hybrid formulas” to vaccinate groups of students. In some cases, groups will go together to a vaccination center. In other cases, vaccination is done at the same school.
“Parents have nothing to fear, they will be informed via School Service Centers when the time is right,” MSSS notes.
The popularity of AstraZeneca
With the AstraZeneca vaccine given as a first dose withdrawn, is it possible to proceed with the second dose for those who have already received it?
Julie Dufour
After receiving a large batch of messages from readers who wanted to change their vaccine after receiving AstraZeneca, many readers raise their hands to receive it as a second dose … especially if it allows them to get a full vaccination faster!
But the truth is, there are very few doses of AstraZeneca left in stock in Quebec. Approximately 520,000 doses that the county has received have so far been administered. Quebec will receive 148,000 doses this week, and the next delivery is not expected for long. There are also, across Canada, between 250,000 and 270,000 unused doses spread across the country, which should be phased out by the end of June.
This means that many Quebecers who received AstraZeneca in the first dose will be invited to receive a messenger RNA vaccine (Pfizer or Moderna) in the second dose.
How will you play everything? According to our information, people who received AstraZeneca in the first dose will be contacted by CISSS or CIUSSS in their territory, which will provide them with the options available to them. If required, appointment dates can be modified.
What does science say about the combination of AstraZeneca vaccine and mRNA? First, it is not dangerous, but temporary side effects (fatigue, headache, fever) are more common in those who have been vaccinated compared to those who received the same vaccine twice. For example, in the British Com-Cov study, which examines this combination, 60% of those who received AZ + Pfizer said they had headaches, while the proportion was 40% among those who received Pfizer twice and about 30% for those who received AstraZeneca twice.
But does this combination provide such effective protection? probably. The Com-Cov study should confirm the effectiveness of the group vaccine in June.
A second dose for whom has “cured” of Covid-19?
“There is no risk (or contraindications) in giving two doses of the vaccine to a person with COVID-19, but the risk of adverse reactions is higher. People who, after obtaining informed consent, will be able to receive two doses of the vaccine after infection with COVID-19, Than getting an appointment for a second dose. ”
Vaccines Outside Quebec: How to Identify Them
After our article was published on May 15th, readers told us that they had successfully obtained a vaccine that was received overseas (especially in Florida) that was registered in their Quebec health registry. The latter simply went to a mass vaccination site (in particular the MIL-University of Montreal Campus), where their information was recorded. MSSS indicates that this service will soon be introduced at some vaccination centers that have been designated for this process.