Starting in June, COVID-19 vaccine clinics will be launched in Saskatchewan elementary and high schools. According to the province’s health minister, children age 13 and older will be now able to provide their own vaccine consent. Until now, only people aged 16 and up were able to do so. Minister Paul Merriman stated that, starting in June, COVID-19 clinics will be present in all of the province’s schools and that some 90,000 doses of vaccine have been reserved for this initiative. The second round of doses will be available in July.
Derek Miller, who is leading vaccination efforts for the Saskatchewan Health Authority, said that high schools will be prioritized to get the vaccine first. The health authority’s CEO Scott Livingstone stated that now, youth aged 13 and older will be able to provide their own written consent.
He added:
“But I think it’s very important for the family to sit down and have those conversations, particularly with kids, regardless of their age, to ensure that there’s no nervousness or hesitancy around receiving the vaccine.”
SHA drive-thru, walk-in and booked appointments will be “reduced” during the school immunizations “to ensure this group is immunized before the end of the school year.”
