Kids under 12 in Alberta face months-long gap in COVID vaccine availability

Shuhiba Mohammad recently took her daughter for her routine childhood immunizations at age 1, and was frustrated when she was told she'd have to book a separate appointment to get a COVID vaccine.

Then, when she called Alberta Health Service's 811 phone number to book an appointment, she learned her child couldn't get a COVID shot, at all.

"I was on the phone for about 45 minutes and somebody got back to me that the Moderna vaccine — that was the COVID vaccine given to children under the age of 12 — was expired as of June 17 ... and so there is no opportunity to vaccinate a child under 12 for COVID until the fall," she said.

"So we're kind of in a little bit of a limbo, where she's going to have no immunity to COVID and we've just started daycare."

Mohammad says she would have appreciated some kind of heads up or communication about this from public health officials, but actually received the opposite when she brought her daughter to her six-month routine immunization appointment.

"They had said that we will deal with the COVID vaccines at a year of age," Mohammed said. "But now that I went and I looked it up and I dug into it a little bit deeper, I could have gotten her a vaccine at six months, but public health had told me a year."

The AHS vaccine-booking website now informs visitors: "COVID-19 vaccine for individuals 6 months up to and including 11 years of age expired June 17, 2025. After this date, COVID-19 vaccine will only be available for eligible individuals 12 years of age and older."

But that warning did not appear in an earlier version of the website, captured on June 14 by the Wayback Machine.

Adult vaccines about to be pulled, too

An AHS spokesperson declined to answer questions about the vaccine availability, referring them instead to the province's newly created Ministry of Primary and Preventative Health Services, headed up by former health minister Adriana LaGrange.

An official with the ministry told CBC News in an email the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine "is currently unavailable across Canada, as all remaining doses have expired" and new doses for children aged six months and older are expected "in the fall."

Adults, too, will also soon be ineligible to receive the current batch of COVID shots.

"The KP.2 COVID-19 vaccine will no longer be administered in Alberta after July 31, as the province prepares to introduce a new formulation this fall," the official said. "Most remaining KP.2 doses are nearing expiry, and removing them now helps ensure a smooth transition to the new prefilled syringe formulation, which also requires different storage and planning."

Craig Jenne, a professor in the department of microbiology, immunology and infectious diseases at the University of Calgary, said it's "frustrating" that children, in particular, will have a months-long gap in vaccine availability.

"We have to appreciate that maybe, at a population level, the kids are less at risk of severe COVID, but we do know that the youngest ones are at risk of intensive care unit admission," he said.

"So, the fact that this is a Health Canada-approved vaccine, we know it works, we know it's safe, but it's simply not available is really frustrating from the public health level."

'We've got to jump through multiple hoops'

Jenne said from a public health perspective, the goal is generally to make vaccines as easily available as possible.

"What we've seen with COVID is the exact opposite," he said.

He worries about the provincial government's plan to starting charging Albertans a fee for COVID vaccines, once new doses arrive in the fall, and to require people to pre-register to receive them at specialized immunization clinics, because the province will no longer make them available at pharmacies.

"So this is now a vaccine that we've got to jump through multiple hoops for — including a significant cost barrier to some Albertans — and there's no doubt that this will drive down uptake and leave a percentage of Albertans who may otherwise want to be protected unable to access the vaccine," Jenne said.

In announcing the plans to reduce availability and start charging for the vaccine, the government of Alberta cited COVID immunization advice from the United States.

"Recently, the Federal Drug Administration in the United States stopped recommending routine COVID-19 vaccines for pregnant women and healthy children," the province said in a June 13 press release.

That change had been announced in May by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and runs contrary to the latest vaccine guidance in Canada.

Starting Aug. 11, the province plans to launch a new "pre-order tool" through its vaccine-booking system where Albertans can "express interest" in receiving both the COVID and influenza vaccines.

"Those who pre-order will receive a reminder by text or email prompting them to book their appointment in early October. Pre-ordering is being used to help plan for vaccine needs and reduce potential waste," the ministry official said.

"Due to recent changes to the federal COVID-19 vaccine procurement process, provinces and territories are now responsible for purchasing COVID-19 vaccines for residents. Alberta's government remains committed to ensuring Albertans at highest risk of severe outcomes from COVID-19 have access to immunizations."

Most Albertans will have to pay for the COVID shot in the fall but the price has not yet been announced.

Flu vaccines will remain free, the ministry official said.