Some parents and educators have declined to give feedback on the province’s communication plan about the vaccine rollout for children ages five to 11.
Just two out of 10 community groups that the Ministry of Citizens Services reached out to for help promoting children’s COVID-19 vaccinations have agreed to take part.
Starting Monday, the province will begin vaccinating younger kids, who are registered on B.C.’s Get Vaccinated website. The Ministry of Health has launched an information campaign on social media, TV and radio to inform parents of the risks and benefits of vaccination.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Citizens Services said it planned to hold focus groups with community organizations “to provide accurate and useful online updates to COVID-19 vaccination web information at gov.bc.ca/getvaccinated .”
Citizens Services Minister Lisa Beare, didn’t respond to Postmedia News requests for comment, but ministry spokesman Jeremy Uppenborn confirmed that two groups agreed to participate in its 90-minute feedback sessions, two groups declined and six others didn’t reply.
Safe Schools Coalition B.C. said that although it supports vaccinations for children, it declined the ministry’s offer. Coalition co-founder Jennifer Heighton predicted the government’s communication plan will fail unless officials acknowledge widespread transmission of COVID in schools and the illness it causes in kids.
“If they had communicated the risks in schools and in children from the beginning, then there would be more parents willing to vaccinate their child,” she said. “We feel it is government’s responsibility and public health’s responsibility to be the experts on vaccines and vaccine safety. You wouldn’t even need an information campaign if parents understood the risks.”
B.C. provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry doesn’t believe public health messaging has led to parents being hesitant, or to lack a sense of urgency, in getting their child vaccinated. She noted more than 91,000 B.C. children have already been registered to receive the vaccine for five- to 11-year-olds.
“What we are trying to do is balance the fact that schools are a safe and important place for children. We have also seen the disruption that children have faced on social activities and school is not yet normal, so (vaccination) is important,” said Henry. “The reality is we are going to be living with this pandemic for some time, in terms of years, and right now we are still in a risky period where we see children get sick with this.”
Heighton said the coalition would prefer to speak to government about other school safety issues, like improved ventilation in classrooms, rapid testing of students and staff, and improvements to the advisory system used when there are COVID cases in schools.
“It would be nice to engage with government on those issues but they are focused on the vaccine portion only,” she said.
source/ Vancouver Sun
