Nova Scotia quietly opens vaccine bookings to children over 6 months
Children between 6 months and 4 years can be booked for the Moderna vaccine
The Nova Scotia government quietly opened the booking site for children between six months and four years of age to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
The province originally said the site would be ready for bookings in early August.
Bookings for as soon as Aug. 1 were on the site Wednesday night.
Children will need two shots — or three if severely immunocompromized — of the Moderna vaccine, the only one approved for children in that age group in Canada. The doses will need to be at least eight weeks apart. Children will be considered fully vaccinated 14 days after their last dose.
If a child has COVID-19, the appointment should be made eight weeks after the infection, Nova Scotia's deputy chief medical officer of health, Dr. Shelley Deeks, said earlier this month.
Deeks advised parents to make sure their children have their other routine vaccinations before the COVID-19 one is available.
If children are getting other routine pediatric vaccines, the province says those vaccines can only be administered at least 14 days before or after the COVID-19 vaccine.
The province estimates there are around 34,000 children aged six months to four years old in Nova Scotia.