Children ages six-months to four-years old can now be vaccinated against COVID-19 and while pharmacists aren't allowed to be the ones to administer it, they insist on making sure children are protected.

Caitlin Giercke with Pharmasave says vaccinations for this age group are not a new thing, with vaccines for young children being available for measles, mumps, rubella, varicella (chickenpox), and others. She mentions, that usually, pharmacies aren't even allowed to administer vaccine doses to anyone under seven, but the government made an exception regarding COVID-19.

"That was to allow more access to these COVID vaccines for children," says Giercke. "Unfortunately, just because of training limitations and just the risk of just monitoring post-vaccination, it's safer for children to be vaccinated in a clinical setting through the Portage Clinic."

She adds vaccinating someone that young is simply something pharmacists aren't trained to do. Giercke says the vaccine made available to young children is the Moderna vaccine, which is an mRNA vaccine.

"For this age group it's recommended two doses," explains Giercke. "The doses need to be eight weeks apart as well."

Giercke hopes that people will stay smart and continue to try to stop the spread of COVID-19.