Lucie Fletcher, 5, looks towards her mother Dr. Daniele Behn Smith as registered nurse Erin Thorpe applies the first dose of Pfizer's pediatric immunization at the University Heights clinic in Victoria, B.C., on Nov. 29.CHAD HIPOLITO/The Canadian Press
The vaccination rollout for children five to 11 years of age has started in British Columbia, but many parents have already spent frustrating and confusing hours trying to book an appointment for their little ones.
In B.C., parents are required to register online and then wait for an invitation to book an appointment. The invitations were expected to start going out early Monday morning, but many who had registered their children weeks ago didn’t get one and had to call in to book their kids.
Lauren Paul registered her daughters, who are seven and nine, in late September, before the province announced on Oct. 9 that registration would begin for younger kids. She said she tried very early because she was concerned about one of her daughters, who has asthma. She kept the notifications on overnight, hoping to wake up to a text invitation, but that didn’t happen.
She tried to book an appointment over the phone but was told she couldn’t do so without an invitation. So she called back a second time and managed to get her kids in for Tuesday morning. Ms. Paul is relieved, but the whole process made her feel like she was left flapping in the wind.
It’s “almost like we’re on our own. Like it’s up to us to figure it out between each other and advocate for ourselves individually, for our families individually,” she said.
Melissa McConchie also made a Tuesday appointment for her 11-year-old son by calling after not receiving a text invitation from the province. But when she phoned, she said staff looked up her children’s information and confirmed they were eligible.
“We’re just a bit confused. I’m really happy he’s getting a vaccine tomorrow,” she said. “I just think it’s a bit of a missed opportunity because … people are eager to vaccinate their kids, you want to make the process as simple as possible for people.”
But not all families were fortunate enough to have their kids booked on the first day.
By mid-afternoon Monday, Laesa Faith Kim was still waiting for an invitation for her eight-year-old son and five-year-old daughter, who underwent open heart surgery on Oct. 5.
“Not only have we not received an invite today, after registering early, but no invite because of her high-risk needs,” said Ms. Kim, adding she registered them on Oct. 14.
She said that, starting in the morning, her efforts to book them were non-stop, but she had no luck because she was told she could not without an invitation.
The Ministry of Health said that, by 4 p.m., 21,602 booking had been made and roughly 50,000 invitations were expected to have been sent by the end of the day. It said people who registered early were among the first to get an invitation.
Health Minister Adrian Dix said Monday morning that about 8,000 invitations for children went out each hour across the province. He said it was still early in the campaign to vaccinate kids and asked parents to be patient, adding that the province is also administering booster shots at the same time.
About 350,000 children are eligible, and 104,000 have already been registered, he said.
Mauricio Drelichman, the father of a eight-year-old, described his booking process as easy. However, he noted, the problem is the tardiness in vaccine delivery.
“It is unacceptable that B.C. waited one week longer than every other province to start vaccinating 5-11 year olds, when the timeline for vaccine arrival had been known for weeks. BC is also vaccinating 5-11 year olds at an incredibly slow pace,” he wrote in an e-mail.
Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan and Alberta began vaccinating children last week.
B.C. expects to complete vaccinating people who want to get the shots by the end of January. Health officials say 60 per cent to 80 per cent of parents plan to get their children immunized.
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