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home / 世界杯决赛2022

new u of c study aims to help kids beat covid-19 vaccine needle fear

the remote study will give families resources and strategies which can help make pediatric vaccinations easier

by jason herring

aug 8 2022
read time 2 minute read
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an 11-year-old boy receives a pfizer-biontech covid-19 vaccine in montreal on nov. 24, 2021. andrej ivanov/afp via getty images
a new university of calgary study aims to arm parents with tools to help their kids overcome fears of needles and pain when getting their covid-19 vaccine.
the study is recruiting families from across canada with children aged four to 11 who have not yet been immunized against the novel coronavirus.

“we want our kids to be vaccinated, and there’s a lot of excitement right now among many that health canada has approved covid-19 vaccines for kids under five ,” said dr. melanie noel, a member of the alberta children’s hospital research institute and the hotchkiss brain institute, as well as a professor of clinical psychology at the u of c.

“what we know is that these vaccine injections can be stressful, they can be painful, they can be scary for some families. what we’re really excited about is that as a team of researchers, we know the simple but powerful things we can do to make these vaccine injections less painful, less scary, and actually empowering for kids and families.”
the remote study will give families resources and strategies that can help make pediatric vaccinations easier. these include using numbing cream, distractions and changing the way they talk to kids about shots.
families are also asked to fill out questionnaires and take part in a short telephone interview. participants also receive $40 in gift cards for participating.
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giving kids a positive experience getting their covid-19 vaccine can help them with future shots and other medical experiences down the road, noel said.
“the goal is to really share what we know from decades of research, as well as some really exciting recent research out of our research centre, and actually use it to improve these experiences,” noel said.
“we know that how these experiences go can set the stage for how they go in the future. they can set the stage for how kids deal with health care in the future.”
as of aug. 1, the last day for which data was updated, 50.3 per cent of alberta children aged five to 11 have had their first shot of covid-19 vaccine, and 36.4 per cent have had two doses. while vaccines have been available for this younger cohort for less time than older albertans, uptake still lags significantly behind the 90.7 per cent of albertans age 12 and older who have at least one shot.
noel said she hopes this study can help give families the push they need to get the shot.
“we know this hesitancy to get vaccinated, people who want to avoid it or put it off, it could be because they don’t know how it’s going to go, or the parent doesn’t like needles,” she said. “empowering parents and kids by giving them things that could help it go better, it is a hope of ours that that would increase confidence, increase how well it goes, but also uptake.”
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families who wish to sign up for the study are asked to email abcpainlab@ucalgary.ca with their name and phone number with the subject line “cn study.”
jherring@postmedia.com
twitter: @jasonfherring
jason herring
jason herring

jason herring is a reporter and editor at the calgary herald and calgary sun, joining the papers in 2019. he graduated from the university of calgary, where he was the editor of the school's student newspaper, the gauntlet. he is an avid cinephile and an amateur crossword puzzle constructor.

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