First-ever 'Junior Jabapalooza' helps immunize 500 children
The first ever Junior Jabapalooza helped give first and second doses to more than 500 kids in Ottawa.
The clinic was Ottawa family physician Dr. Nili Kaplan-Myrth’s latest so-called “Jabapalooza” event- but the first for those aged five to 11.
The mass vaccination clinic was held at Mutchmor Public School in the Glebe Monday and was done in collaboration with the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board. All 500 appointments were booked, but walk-ins were accepted as well.
Kaplan-Myrth said extra steps were made for kids who needed special accommodations to get their shots.
“We had a couple of kids who drove by today with autism disorder so they needed someone to come out and give them their shot and we have someone else who is coming by in a car with mobility issues, and other kids in the neighbourhood and around town who need a shot, we will try to accommodate. It is a cold day, and we don’t want any line-ups!”
Kids were given a pediatric Pfizer dose- a smaller dose than the one given to adults.
Kaplan-Myrth has held numerous vaccination events for adults but says this one is important to help get kids back into schools as soon as possible.
“I think this is a step to get kids back to school when it is safe to go back,” she says. “Vaccines are one step in that. We are giving shots today and that means in a couple of weeks they are going to have the benefit in that, so we need to make sure everybody has had the opportunity to get their first and second doses, and we need to make sure that everyone has access to N95 masks and rapid tests. There are many layers as to what will make schools safe.”
Megan Brassard took her six-year-old son Hudson to get his second dose. “It was important to have Hudson fully vaccinated. This was his second dose today, so we were super proud of how brave he was doing his part to keep everybody safe!”
Brassard says this is the push that is needed to get kids back to in-person learning.
“As a teacher myself I would like to be back and I would like the kids to be back too.”
Hudson says the vaccine didn’t even hurt.
“I had a vaccine and I was brave; I didn’t even cry.”
He says he knows why getting the vaccine is important.
“So I don’t get sick!”
Kaplan-Myrth says she would consider holding another Junior Jabapalooza to help get more kids their shots.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.