Scotiabank Arena to host mass COVID-19 vaccination clinic for young kids Dec. 12 in Vancouver
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — The Vancouver Convention & Visitors Office (VCVO) has announced it will be holding a mass COVID-19 vaccination clinic for young kids at Scotiabank Arena on Monday, Dec. 12 in Vancouver.
The clinic marks the start of a multi-city campaign with an annual average of 1.1 million young children receiving life-saving vaccinations in the past two years and an average of 3,000 vaccinations each weekend across the country.
“This year, we’re not only doing it in Vancouver, but in the other nine major cities of North America,” said Dr. Peter Sidak, President and CEO of VVO. “We’re excited about the great response to these vaccines in North America and around the world.”
“There’s something special about bringing young kids together to have a conversation about health and wellness with their parents, their grandparents, and others,” he continued.
According to Sidak, this year’s program will provide an opportunity for parents to learn about how vaccines work and the importance of getting their kids vaccinated against the three diseases for which the BC Centre for Disease Control recommends annual vaccines: Polio, Chicken Pox, and Diphtheria.
“This is the opportunity that the whole family has been waiting for,” said Sidak. “It’s also a great opportunity to educate others on vaccines and immunization, so that they can get an immunization before they have their child vaccinated.”
An estimated 4.2 million children under five are missed by their parents every year because of a lack of immunization. Only 35 percent of people in the U.S. have fully immunized their newborns and a third of young children are not vaccinated at all.
It is very important that we inform parents how vaccines are effective and how to vaccinate their children.
While most of the kids receive their shots in the clinic, many are also given vaccines home (HHC), with the idea that an unimmunized child is more likely to contract a disease.
VCVO is a federally designated body to ensure the community is involved in decisions about the promotion and prevention of infectious diseases.