Survey: half of respondents plan to have children aged 5-11 vaccinated against COVID-19

Barbara Violo, pharmacist and owner of The Junction Chemist Pharmacy, draws up a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, in Toronto, Friday, June 18, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

Winnipeg -

Survey results by pollster Angus Reid suggest half of Canadian parents plan to have their elementary school-aged children vaccinated against COVID-19 right away.

Results released Monday show one in two of the 812 parents who responded will have their children vaccinated as soon as Health Canada approves one for the 5 to 11 age group.

Survey data indicated parents in Alberta were least likely to vaccinate their children in the specified age group, with 46 per cent affirming their intention to vaccinate as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, Ontario showed the strongest favourable response with 54 per cent and the Manitoba-Saskatchewan region close behind at 53 per cent.

Among those respondents who decided against ever obtaining any vaccine for their children, Quebec and Alberta were highest at 30 per cent and 29 per cent respectively.

Nationally, 18 per cent of parents said they planned to take a wait-and-see approach to having their children vaccinated. Nine per cent of the total survey respondents fell into the ‘Not Sure’ category.

In a release accompanying the results, Angus Reid noted that COVID-19 cases have been rising in younger children in many parts of the country.

Though children are at relatively low risk of serious illness from the virus, concerns about spread to vulnerable populations have health officials voicing support for vaccination among youngsters.

In September, Dr. Joss Reimer, medical lead of Manitoba’s Vaccine Implementation Task Force said the province is planning to be ready as soon as a COVID-19 vaccine is approved for younger children.

Reimer said the task force is looking at different options to provide that dose upon approval, which could include school-based immunizations.

“Regardless of whether or not we offer it in schools, we will still have medical clinics, our pharmacies, and, in more remote settings, our public health teams would be offering the vaccine to younger children once it’s approved,” Reimer said.

Angus Reid conducted a survey online from September 29 to Oct. 3 among a representative random sample of 5,011 adults. The company said a probability sample of this size would carry a margin of error of +/- 2.0 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.