COVID-19 vaccination clinics for Yukon kids to begin Dec. 6
Children aged 5 to 11 now eligible to receive pediatric Pfizer-BioNTech shots
Yukon children will be able get their first shot of COVID-19 vaccine starting on Dec. 6.
The territorial government announced on Thursday that clinics will be held for children aged 5 to 11 to receive the pediatric Pfizer-BioNTech shot throughout December.
The recommended interval between shots is eight weeks.
In Whitehorse, clinics will be held at the Coast High Country Inn Convention Centre and appointments can now be booked online.
In communities outside of Whitehorse, shots will be administered at local health centres. The territorial government says appointments for those clinics will be posted online by the end of this week.
The territorial government says there will be enough doses for every eligible Yukon child to be vaccinated.
18 active cases in Teslin
Meanwhile, the small community of Teslin, Yukon, is dealing with an outbreak of new COVID-19 cases and new exposure notices have been issued for the local school.
Teslin, with a population of just under 500 people, now has 18 active cases — the most of any rural Yukon community. Whitehorse continues to have the highest number of active cases, with 92 as of Wednesday.
The other active cases on Wednesday were in Haines Junction, Pelly Crossing and Watson Lake, with two each, and a single case in each of Beaver Creek, Carcross, and Carmacks.
The new exposure notices for the Khàtìnas.àxh Community School in Teslin are:
- Grade 1/2/3 split class, Nov. 17
- Kindergarten, Nov. 17, 18 and 19.
Other exposure notices were also issued over the past week for that school:
- Grade 1/2/3 split class, Nov. 8, 9, 10, 15, 16.
- Grade 4/5/6 split class, Nov. 12, 15, 16.
- Grade 7/8/9 split class, Nov. 16.
- Staff development meetings, Nov. 12.
Health officials say students, parents, guardians and staff in the affected classes have been given letters with instructions of who should isolate or get tested.
A week ago, Yukon's acting chief medical officer said some of the territory's cases were connected to a hockey tournament in Teslin the weekend of Nov. 12 to 14, and he suggested there may be more associated with that event. He asked anybody who was there to self-monitor for symptoms.
As of Thursday morning, Yukon had 114 active cases of COVID-19, with 15 new cases confirmed since Wednesday morning. The active case count has been steadily lowering in recent days.
The chief medical officer said on Wednesday that public health restrictions introduced earlier this month as a "circuit-breaker" appeared to be working, and the territory's COVID-19 case count was "stabilizing."