A new survey has found that about one-third of the parents of younger school-aged children in Toronto are either unsure or opposed to getting their little ones vaccinated against COVID-19, underscoring the work that the city still has left to do on the file.

The survey of 43,000 parents of children aged five to 11 found that 66 per cent of them are either certain or somewhat likely to get their child vaccinated once Health Canada approves the vaccine for use in the age group, something that is expected to happen by the end of the month.

The results are being welcomed by Mayor John Tory as “a good start.”

But they also suggest that the city could have an uphill climb in reaching its goal of getting 90 per cent of eligible residents vaccinated.

Last December, prior to the approval of any vaccines, Ipsos Reid conducted a survey of adult residents on behalf of Toronto Public Health and found that a higher percentage – about 73 per cent of them - intended to get a shot once they became available. About 16 per cent of the respondents to that survey said that they would definitely or probably not get the vaccine. A further 11 per cent of respondents weren’t sure.

“I think the 66 per cent actually represents quite a solid start and it is not dissimilar to that which we saw for adult vaccination,” Toronto’s Medical Officer of Health Dr. Eileen de Villa told reporters during a briefing on Wednesday. “Over the course of the adult vaccination campaign we saw that with continued efforts and with the actual proof in the pudding as it were of actually seeing the vaccination get rolled out and seeing the benefits of the vaccine there was a reduced hesitancy. I suspect that we may see the same thing here as we will apply all the lessons we've learned over the course of the entire vaccination campaign to this latest aspect of the campaign, the five to 11 year old vaccination effort.”

Toronto Public Health distributed the survey to the parents of all children aged five to 11 earlier this month and used the results to help shape its vaccine rollout for the age group.

The survey, however, is not being released to the public at this time.

Toronto Public Health says that once they complete their analysis of the data they will “determine how best to disclose the findings.”

In the meantime, the city is only releasing limited information about the results, including the fact that respondents expressed a preference for having their child vaccinated at a doctor's office or their school. 

“At this point those are the data I have right now. We are still in the very early analysis stages, while maybe not the early part but let’s say that there is further analysis," De Villa told CP24 on Wednesday afternoon when questioned about why more of ther survey results haven't been released. "We focused on a couple key points to get early information on, one of which was understanding what proportion of parents are ready to go, are either quite certain that they are going to get vaccines or likely to get vaccines for their five to eleven year old children. We are of course waiting on the analysis of the rest of the survey and will be very happy to share those results once they are available to us."

Vaccinations should begin by end of month, Moore says

There are believed to be about 200,000 children between the ages of five and 11 in Toronto, accounting for roughly seven per cent of the city’s population.

While it remains unclear when the group can begin to get vaccinated, Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore told an Ottawa radio station on Tuesday that he is confident that shots will be going into arms “by the end of this month.”

Moore said that he expects doses will be separated out by eight weeks, allowing most kids to get some level of protection in time for the holidays.

“The first dose will provide a significant level of protection over the holidays,” Moore said during the interview with Newstalk 580. “So all of us are looking forward to best protecting those children and having a safer holiday.”

Speaking with reporters eaerlier in the day, de Villa said that once Health Canada approves the vaccine for school-aged children the city will initially focus on 30 priority neighbourhoods, holding approximately 230 clinics in more than 390 schools over a three to four-week period.

But she said that children will also be able to get vaccinated at more than 450- participating pharmacies and dozens of fixed-site clinics, including the five city-run immunization clinics.

“We have 30 Priority neighborhoods for which there will be enhanced resources based on the data indicating the need for those increased resources. That being said, there will be school-based clinics in neighborhoods across the city from the outset,” de Villa said. “”This is not, by any means, a restricted campaign. We are absolutely committed along with all of our partners to making sure that vaccine is as readily available as quickly as possible to five to 11 year olds once that vaccine is approved and available for use.”About 85 per cent of eligible residents in Toronto are currently fully vaccinated and about 88 per cent have received at least one dose.

About 85 per cent of eligible residents in Toronto are currently fully vaccinated and about 88 per cent have received at least one dose.