As a number of schools across Saskatchewan continue to deal with COVID-19, including a high test positivity rate among youth, Official Opposition Education Critic Carla Beck is calling on the province to proactively create a plan to rollout vaccinations to kids ages five to 11 in advance of their approval and to create a pre-registration program to accelerate the rollout.

Beck says this is a crisis of inaction, “The Sask. Party government has sat on their hands with the lowest vaccination rate in Canada. Our unvaccinated children have suffered from that inaction, accounting for nearly a quarter of all new cases. We must make sure our kids can be protected as quickly as possible.”

 Last week, the SHA released its Weekly Monitoring report, showing a 17.4 percent test positivity rate among children and youth. It also follows multiple reports of over a hundred schools and child care centres currently facing active COVID outbreaks. Last week, the Government of British Columbia announced that it would allow parents to pre-register children aged five to 11 to receive the vaccine, in light of estimates that a vaccine could be approved for children aged five and older as early as November 1st. A recent Angus Reid survey showed the majority of Saskatchewan parents would like to vaccinate their children as soon as possible.

“This government’s practice of waiting until a crisis before acting needs to stop. Vaccines for school-aged children will soon get the green light. We must be ready to get kids that important protection as soon as it becomes available,” added Beck. “I hear from concerned parents and teachers every day, hoping that this Premier will finally show some leadership. It’s never too late to stop lagging and start leading.”