Vaccines for children: COVID-19
Ready to vaccinate?
On this page
- Making the decision to vaccinate
- Impacts of COVID-19 on children and youth
- Importance of vaccines
- When to vaccinate children and youth
- Vaccination after being infected with COVID-19
- Possible side effects
- Safety and monitoring
- Have a positive vaccination experience
- Protect unvaccinated children
Making the decision to vaccinate
As a parent or guardian, you want what's best for your child. It's normal to ask questions about COVID-19 vaccines before making a decision.
If you need more specific or detailed information or have questions, consult a health care provider. You can also find information on your provincial, territorial or local public health authority's website.
Learn more about:
- Provincial and territorial information on COVID-19 vaccination and bookings
- Get the facts: Vaccinating children against COVID-19 (printable poster)
Impacts of COVID-19 on children and youth
Vaccines continue to offer strong protection against the most severe outcomes of COVID-19.
While most infected children and youth have mild symptoms and are less likely to get really sick from COVID-19, some can still:
- require hospitalization for complications, such as difficulty breathing
- be infected without showing symptoms and spread COVID-19 to others
- experience longer-term effects if they do get infected
- get a rare but serious complication called multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C)
- this is a condition that can occur several weeks after COVID-19
- MIS-C involves inflammation in the body and it can affect the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes or gastrointestinal organs
- symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea and skin rash
- the majority of children and adolescents in Canada who have had this condition have fully recovered with treatment
Getting children in your care vaccinated with a COVID-19 vaccine will increase their protection against severe COVID-19 outcomes and illness.
Children and youth at higher risk
Children and youth with certain underlying medical conditions may have a higher risk of severe illness from COVID-19. It's especially important for children at high risk to stay up to date with their vaccines.
These underlying medical conditions may include:
- obesity
- asthma
- Down syndrome
- neurological disorders
- immunocompromising conditions
- conditions that require a lot of medical care
Children who have multiple (2 or more) long-lasting conditions are at also higher risk for severe COVID-19. If you don't know if your child is at increased risk of severe outcomes because of an underlying medical condition, ask a health care provider.
Learn more about:
- Post COVID-19 condition (long-term symptoms)
- Ask the experts COVID-19 vaccine questions: Benefits and effectiveness
Importance of vaccines
Vaccines help lower your child's risk of getting seriously sick from COVID-19. They work with the body's natural defences to develop protection against disease. The COVID-19 vaccine makes the immune system create antibodies and immune memory. This allows the body to remember the virus and react quickly to fight infection before kids can get really sick.
When to vaccinate children and youth
All children and youth aged 6 months to 17 years can receive a COVID-19 vaccine. Only mRNA vaccines are approved for use in children and youth.
Learn more about:
Children 6 months to 11 years of age
Two vaccine doses at least 8 weeks apart are recommended for children in Canada.
COVID-19 vaccines for children use a smaller dose than those for people who are 12 years of age and older. Children who turn 12 before their second dose in a primary series should receive the higher dose to complete their primary series.
Youth 12 to 17 years of age
Two COVID-19 vaccine doses 8 weeks apart are recommended for youth 12 years of age and older.
Booster doses
A booster dose or additional dose may be offered to youth 12 to 17 years of age. Youths 12 to 17 years of age at high risk are strongly recommended to get a booster dose. A booster dose should be given 6 months from the last dose of the primary series.
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Children and youth who are immunocompromised
Children ages 6 months to 5 years of age who are moderately to severely immunocompromised may be offered 3 doses of COVID-19 vaccine. Children over the age of 5 years old who are moderately to severely immunocompromised should receive 3 doses. The recommended interval is 4 to 8 weeks between each dose.
After having COVID-19, it's recommended to wait 4 to 8 weeks to receive the next dose in a primary series.
Parents and caregivers of moderately to severely immunocompromised children and youth are encouraged to speak with a health care provider to learn more about vaccination and other ways to protect them against COVID-19.
Vaccination after being infected with COVID-19
Those who have already had COVID-19 should still get vaccinated to:
- reduce the risk of getting sick again
- increase their potential protection against future COVID-19 variants
Children and youth who experienced COVID-19 before any primary series dose should wait:
- 2 months after symptoms started before receiving their first or second dose or
- 2 months after testing positive before receiving their first or second dose if they didn't experience any symptoms
Youth 12 to 17 years of age may be offered a booster dose:
- 6 months after their last COVID-19 vaccine dose or
- 6 months after they had COVID-19
In some circumstances, they may be eligible to receive a booster dose after 3 months.
Children and youth who are immunocompromised are recommended to wait 4 to 8 weeks after having COVID-19 to receive the next dose in a primary series.
Learn more about:
Possible side effects
Side effects are expected as your body responds to a vaccine. Side effects for children and youth are similar to those for adults.
Some people have no side effects while others may have some type of reaction. Reactions are most often mild and go away by themselves within hours or days. The COVID-19 vaccine ingredients are no longer in the body after a few days. Only the immune response to protect against COVID-19 remains.
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Rare reactions that have been reported
As with all vaccines, there's a very small chance that there will be a serious side effect.
Learn more about:
- COVID-19 vaccine safety and side effects: Allergic reactions
- COVID-19 vaccine safety and side effects: Myocarditis and pericarditis
Safety and monitoring
Millions of children in Canada and around the world have safely received COVID-19 vaccines, but rare reactions have been reported.
For the clinical trials, Health Canada conducted a detailed review of the immune response, and the safety and effectiveness of the vaccines.
In these studies:
- no safety issues were detected
- the vaccines were shown to provide very good protection against infection in the 2 months after vaccination
Learn more about:
- COVID-19 vaccine safety and side effects: Myocarditis and pericarditis
- Ask the experts COVID-19 vaccines questions: Safety, ingredients and side effects
- COVID-19: How effective the Pfizer-BioNTech Comirnaty vaccine was in protecting trial participants
- COVID-19: How effective the Moderna Spikevax vaccine was in protecting trial participants
- Ask the experts COVID-19 vaccines questions: Development, review and approval
- CANVax's MIICOVAC project: Meet virtually with a vaccination counsellor
Ongoing monitoring for safety
Vaccine safety monitoring doesn't stop after approval of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Canada's strong vaccine safety monitoring system continually works to detect any possible rare side effects that didn't appear in the clinical trials.
Canada also has a safety surveillance system in place that's specifically designed for monitoring pediatric vaccinations. The Immunization Monitoring Program ACTive (IMPACT) is a pediatric, hospital-based network administered by the Canadian Paediatric Society. It has been used to monitor childhood vaccination for more than 20 years.
In addition, monitoring is also done by:
- Health Canada
- the Public Health Agency of Canada
- vaccine manufacturers
These organizations continue to monitor the COVID-19 vaccines for safety as they become more widely used in Canada and around the world.
Learn more about:
- Vaccine development and approval in Canada
- COVID-19: How vaccines are developed (video)
- Ask the experts COVID-19 vaccines questions: Monitoring safety after approval
Have a positive vaccination experience
Families may have concerns about vaccination. Knowing what to expect can help ease worries and make vaccination a positive experience for your family.
Learn more about:
- Vaccines for children: What to expect at the vaccination appointment
- SickKids: CARD (comfort, ask, relax, distract) System for families
Have a family discussion about vaccination
Talk to children and youth about the importance of getting vaccinated.
- Tell them about vaccination using age-appropriate language.
- Tell them what will happen and how it will feel.
- Communicate using neutral language.
- Try using words such as 'pressure' or 'poke' to describe how it might feel.
- Avoid misleading information like 'it won't hurt.'
- Answer their questions and tell them what you'll do to help make it a better experience.
- Teach them about false information, and make sure they know to:
- ask questions if they aren't sure
- verify information before sharing it with others
Learn more about:
- Ask the experts video series: COVID-19 vaccines questions
- COVID-19 resources for youth, students and young adults: Be safe online
- Canada's Centre for Digital Literacy's Check First, Share After campaign
- Canadian Paediatric Society: How can we talk to kids about COVID-19?
Protect unvaccinated children
Regardless of your vaccination status, continue to:
- follow all local public health and setting-specific restrictions and recommendations
- choose lower-risk activities and settings
- layer multiple individual public health measures, which are:
- staying home when sick
- wearing a well-fitting mask (preferably a medical mask or respirator, such as an N95 or KN95)
- cleaning your hands regularly
It's important to respect choices made by caregivers. We'll continue to provide updates as more data emerges to help caregivers make an informed decision about COVID-19 vaccination.
Learn more about:
- COVID-19: Individual public health measures
- COVID-19 mask use: Types of masks and respirators
- My COVID-19 visit risk calculator
- COVID-19: Provincial and territorial resources
Related links
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