Vaccinating Children - No Parental Approval Required

Canada is among the world's leading nations when it comes to vaccinating children between the ages of 12 and 17.  Let's look at how Canada's provinces, the providers of health care in the nation, are handling the COVID-19 vaccine rollout in their jurisdiction.

To put all of this posting into perspective, here is a graphic from the Government of Canada showing the number of deaths related to COVID-19 by age group:

In Canada, only 11 children aged 19 and under have died with COVID-19.

Now, let's look at this information about Ontario's experience with COVID-19 from the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms showing how few COVID deaths there have been for people under the age of 40:

With that background, let's look at Manitoba and its program to vaccinate young Canadians.  Here is the COVID-19 Immunization for Young People's webpage on the Manitoba government's website:

 

There are currently 111,000 Manitobans between the ages of 12 and 17 who will be eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.  

Now, with the "devil being in the details", let's look at who can make the appointment for a vaccination for a child between the ages of 12 and 17?  Here is a quote from the website:

 

"Anyone who is eligible can make their own appointment. Parents, caregivers and guardians can also make an appointment on behalf of their child."

 

In other words, 12 year olds can make an appointment for a COVID-19 vaccination on their own, with or without parental approval.  In fact, as is pointed out quite clearly, parents are not required to attend their child's appointment and can attend only if they are able to.  As well, children do not have to supply a form of identification to qualify for a vaccine which means that a child under the age of 12 with the physical characteristics of an older child may be given the vaccine inadvertently.

 

Here is the government's response to a question about who can sign the consent form for children between the ages of 12 and 17:  

  

"Young people aged 16 and 17 can sign their own consent form. To make the visit as easy as possible, it is ideal if young people aged 12 to 15 can either attend the appointment with a parent, guardian or caregiver or have their parent sign their consent form ahead of time to bring along. However, if the youth attends without a guardian and without a signed consent form, they can go through an informed consent process with a clinical lead to assess their ability to consent on their own and proceed with the vaccine."

Here is a screen capture showing this information just in case it disappears or changes:

  

In other words, a 12-year-old Manitoban does not have to receive parental approval to receive their COVID-19 vaccination and will go through an informed consent process with a clinician.

 

Now, let's look at Ontario, Canada's largest province.  Here is what appears on the Ontario government's "COVID-19 vaccines for youth" webpage:

 

Starting May 23, all youth between 12 and 17 years of age and their family members who have not received a vaccine are eligible to book an appointment to receive their first dose of the Pfizer.  While it isn't as clearly spelled out as int he case of Manitoba, Ontario is allowing children between the ages of 12 and 17 to book their own appointments for a COVID-19 vaccine.

For an even clearer explanation of what 12-year-olds are allowed to do in Ontario, let's look at the "Book your appointment" webpage for the Region of Peel, located to the north and west of Toronto:

 

Again, children down to and including the age of 12 are allowed to make their own appointment and the assumption is that by agreeing to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, they understand why the vaccine is being administered and its risks and benefits.  To the best of my knowledge, even during the poliomyiletis scare of the 1950s, children were not allowed to make their own appointments for vaccination.  

There are three things that are important to remember:

 

1.) Children (and as the pandemic is proving, adults) are highly subject to peer pressure; if their friends are being vaccinated, they are quite likely to feel pressure to follow their peers' lead.

 

2.) Children have a very limited concept of risk-reward or informed consent.  With the majority of adults barely understanding the nature of the COVID-19 vaccines, how can clinicians and politicians expect that children will be able to understand the potential risks of mRNA vaccines especially given that the vaccines will not be fully tested for at least another year or more?

3.) With Big Pharma being indemnified for any health issues that may result from COVID-19 vaccines, who will pay for the care of children that may be harmed over the medium- and long-term from administration of these experimental vaccines.

  

To the best of my knowledge, even during the poliomyeletis scare of the 1950s, children were not allowed to make their own appointments for vaccination.  By doing this, the state is taking over the rights of parents to determine what is best for their children.

 

Let's close this posting with a tweet from Dr. Andrew Babak Boozary, a family physician in Canada:

Free ice cream and a live DJ for a one second jab with a needle - it doesn't get any better than that!  But, then again, didn't our parents warn us repeatedly about the dangers of taking sweets from strangers?  After all, we all know for a fact that Big Pharma has never done anything that would put any of its customers at any risk.