Waterloo region to expand in-school COVID-19 vaccine clinics, offer families more options

In-school COVID-19 vaccination clinics have been piloted in Waterloo region and public health officials plan to roll them out to more schools in the coming weeks.

Vickie Murray, who leads the region's vaccination task force,said the first pilot was a "positive experience" for those involved. Now, public health is working with principals across the region to get public health nurses into more schools.

Murray saidthey don't go to just any school. Staff have been spending a lot of time looking at vaccination rates at individual schools andthe surrounding neighbourhoods, andat the number of cases in each area. They thenoverlay that with what they know about the community as a whole.

When a clinic is held in a school, parents are sent information about the clinic and then need to provide consent for their child to get their vaccine.

Murray said the clinics during the school day are small, usually held in the library with a couple of public health nurses on site who are experienced in giving vaccines to children.

"It's low key, it's relaxed, it's very supportive," she said in an interview Wednesday on CBC Kitchener-Waterloo's The Morning Edition.

Goal to get 70% of children vaccinated

As of Tuesday, about 54 per cent of children in the region aged five to 11 had afirst dose of the vaccine and just under 23 per cent have had two doses.

"Our goal is to get those numbers up," Murray said.

She noted second-dose numbers will rise in the coming weeks because the recommendation is for children to get their second dose eight weeks after the first, and many children are just now passing that eight week mark.

But she would like to see vaccination rates of 70 per cent or higher for children.

"It was a really strong start in our community when we first were able to give children vaccineback in November. We took off like a shot," she said. "But then it really plateaued quickly so we're really hoping we can re-invigorate our children's vaccination and get those numbers up."

She noted the region's website has information for parents, but also encouraged familiesto seek out medical advice if they have questions.

That's something family Dr.Sharon Bal of Cambridge recommends, too. Bal said thatwhen she speaks to parents, they have legitimate questions about the vaccine.

But she said too often,parents have these conversations with friendsand not medical experts.

"People are bypassing health-care professionals to have those conversations and chatting with lots of other people and getting a little bit stressed," she said during Friday's public healthmedia briefing.

"That was becoming a barrier. I think more and more when folks connect with their normal health care provider, their pediatrician or family doctor, the questions themselves are really, really reasonable questions that we feel really confident answering."

Other outreach clinics to come

Ontario Minister of Education Stephen Lecce announced the in-school vaccinations last month as part of effortsby the government to "do everything we can to support in-person learning."

Murray saidRegion of Waterloo Public Health is looking to do more clinics in schools, but it is also exploring holding clinics in the eveningand on weekends. This gives parents the opportunity to go with their child to the clinic and it's held in a space that's already familiar to the family.

"I'll be honest, there is concern that there's some parents who might not be comfortable with their child getting vaccinated without them, so we're trying to do as much as we can to provide education and information ahead of time so that parents have what they need to support making that decision," Murray said.

Public health staff will also focus more on community outreach and set up neighbourhood clinics to help people get first and second doses.