“my fear is that all these tools are not put into place by the september academic year,” said pham-huy, noting that ontario children were out of school longer than others across the country.
vaccinations may be the most important tool in the fight against covid-19, said pham-huy, but they are far from the only one. the fact that younger children aren’t eligible to be vaccinated yet, makes it even more important that people around them are, say experts. that includes parents, teachers and school staff.
dr. peter juni, who is the scientific director of ontario’s covid-19 science advisory table, said there will likely continue to be outbreaks in pockets of the population that are under-vaccinated, even as overall vaccination levels rise.
a recent outbreak in the northern first nations community of kashechewan, where a high percentage of adults are vaccinated, illustrated that. israel, which has among the highest vaccination rates in the world, has also seen outbreaks in recent weeks among school children.
while children are not generally at as high risk from the virus as older adults, up to five per cent who become infected can go on to develop long covid, with debilitating symptoms. between one in 1,000 and one in 3,000 can also suffer from a rare inflammatory syndrome that, in severe cases, can cause heart and other organ damage. and children with complex health issues are more vulnerable.