Here's how many B.C. kids under 5 are booked for COVID-19 vaccine

Just a fraction of B.C. parents have registered their children under five to get the COVID-19 vaccine, according to the Ministry of Health.

The province has estimated around 208,000 kids between six months and five years old are eligible to receive the shot. Parents of infants younger than six months can still register their child and receive an invitation to book an appointment once they're old enough.

Online registration became available on July 14 but as of Wednesday just 13,606 of these kids had been registered by their parent, with 8,202 booking appointments. That works out to 6.5 and 3.9 per cent, respectively.

Health Canada approved a two-dose series of the Moderna vaccine for this youngest cohort nearly three weeks ago and several provinces began their rollout not long after.

In B.C., the first doses were administered Tuesday.

“It takes sometimes a little bit longer for us to get the vaccine supply compared to Ontario, for example. So we wanted to make sure that we had it across the province and so everybody's starting today,” provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said at a news conference on the day the rollout officially started.

Infectious disease expert Dr. Brian Conway says the rollout of this age category could have been stronger.

“We need to do a bit better,” Conway told CTV News Tuesday.

He says the United States is using some more graphic advertising to remind people about the consequences of contracting COVID-19.

“Although I don't want to get us into scare tactics, I really want to get us over this COVID fatigue and understand what our responsibility is,” said Conway.

He’d like to see clearer, more forceful messaging from public health.

“Our first line of defence is vaccines. I'm not hearing it loud enough. Let's all get vaccinated, including children down to age six months,” said Conway.

Uptake for the first dose among kids between five and 11 years old in British Columbia stalled at about 55 per cent back in February. This is consistent with the national average, which similarly plateaued months ago. Newfoundland and Labrador remains a significant outlier having given one dose to 87 per cent of children in this age group.

Concerns over the low rate of vaccination among this age group were raised by Prime Minster Justin Trudeau back in January. At that point, the rate was 51 per cent and cases were surging due to the Omicron variant.

“The vaccination rate for kids 5 to 12 is too low in Canada, which means not only are kids more vulnerable, but all of society,” Trudeau said at the time.

“We need to do what’s right; we need to continue to do the right thing. That means getting our kids vaccinated. It is safe and effective and the right way to get through this pandemic.”

With files from CTV News Vancouver's Regan Hasegawa