The Government of Saskatchewan’s weekly update on the COVID-19 pandemic once again took aim at the unvaccinated and partially-vaccinated residents of the province, this time saying the uptick in novel coronavirus cases among children under 12 years of age is due to those eligible to be vaccinated not doing so and transmitting COVID-19 to their kids.

The province says a recent review of 1,643 confirmed cases of all ages between August 20th and September 7th showed 98 per cent of school-aged virus cases lived in unimmunized or partly immunized households. Of the 1,643 confirmed cases, 334 were identified as aged six-to-19 with a further breakdown of 189 cases aged six-to-12, an age group that is not eligible to be vaccinated. Through case identification, two of 80 households were fully immunized with 78 households either unimmunized or partly immunized. The weekly update added that, as of September 21st, four children under 11 years of age are in hospital with none in an I-C-U.

At this time, children under 12 years are not eligible to be vaccinated against COVID-19 in Canada.  Recent news on clinical trials in this age group is encouraging, and the province will move quickly to provide COVID-19 vaccines to additional age groups as soon as any vaccine receives Health Canada approvals.

Until that approval is granted, our best defense of pediatric COVID cases is to increase vaccination rates among all eligible residents.  All Saskatchewan residents who will be 12 years of age as of December 31, 2021 and older are eligible for vaccination.

In a recent review of more than 1,600 cases, 98 per cent of school-aged COVID cases lived in unimmunized or partly immunized households.​

• The review included 1,643 confirmed cases of all ages between August 20 and September 7, 2021.
• 334 school aged children (six to 19 years) were identified. The majority of this group (189 cases or 56.5 per cent) were aged six to 12 years.
• Through the case identification, it was determined two of the households were fully immunized with 78 households unimmunized or partly immunized.

As of September 21, four children under 11 are in hospital; none are in ICU. Children can contract, transmit and become ill with COVID-19, though the risk for serious health outcomes is lower than older populations. Current evidence indicates children with underlying medical conditions and infants less than 12 months of age may be at elevated risk to COVID-19 illnesses, similar to the 80+ age group.

Case and contact management in schools continues to be a high priority for public health officials.  Information on masking in school settings and the notifications parents will receive in the event of confirmed cases in classrooms is available at Saskatchewan.ca/covid-19.