Online survey aims to understand Alberta parents' views on vaccination, AHS says
Non-scientific survey has yielded more than 30K responses so far
Alberta Health Services is surveying parents as it prepares for Health Canada to approve the use of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine for children ages five to 11.
Among other questions, AHS's survey asks parents whether they intend to have their children vaccinated and what AHS could do to make families' vaccine experiences positive.
AHS spokesperson Kerry Williamson said that the survey, which has yielded more than 30,000 responses, is neither scientific nor statistically relevant as it is an open online survey with the potential to capture some groups' attention over others.
"We believe there have been particular groups who have used the open, anonymous survey to push a particular agenda," he said on Wednesday.
He said the survey is one of a variety of ways of gathering input from Albertans and its aim is to give AHS an initial understanding of what parents and guardians need in order to make vaccination decisions.
Preliminary results
The survey does not close until Nov. 8 at noon, but preliminary results have captured some of the reasons behind Albertans' views on vaccinating children.
Those who said they intended to have their children vaccinated said their biggest reason for doing so was because they are vaccinated and want their children protected.
Those who said they did not intend to vaccinate their children said their biggest concern was about long-term effects of the vaccine.
Last week, Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at VIDO Intervac in Saskatoon, told CBC that she does not anticipate seeing vaccine side effects for kids to be much different than those observed in adults.
She said mRNA vaccines have the extremely rare side-effect of heart inflammation and vaccines in general have a low risk of anaphylactic shock, which is immediately treatable, but for her, "the risk of COVID-19 is much more likely and is much higher even for younger kids than the risk of getting a vaccine."
"We just need to do our best to make sure that there is reliable information available as to why parents might want to immunize children," said Dr. Joan Robinson, a pediatric infectious diseases physician at the Stollery Children's Hospital.
"The data just came out from Pfizer last week, and it appears that the vaccine is very effective in children aged five to 11 and preventing about 90 percent of symptomatic infections."
She said parents worried about side-effects should also consider the risks of children contracting COVID-19 — "children five to 11 have a low incidence of severe COVID but the incidence is not zero" — and the effects of long COVID.
Planning the rollout
U.S. health officials have already approved Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine for children.
Yesterday, Health Canada tweeted that it would take months to review Pfizer's submission, but clarified today that the tweet was incorrect and the review will take weeks.
Edmonton parent Kristin McEwan is looking forward to her kids being immunized.
"It just gives you that little bit of extra peace of mind and makes you feel better about any little sniffle," she said.
James Law, another parent, said he would also like his kids to be vaccinated.
"It would just make me more relieved," he said.
A spokesperson for Alberta Health said planning is underway to offer vaccines to more Albertans quickly, with the timeline depending on Health Canada approval.
"We are making plans to be ready and we will fund those plans to be ready to do the rollout as quickly as possible," Health Minister Jason Copping said Wednesday in question period.
Williamson said AHS is preparing teams and updating policies, processes and resources.
With files from Emily Fitzpatrick