Skip to content
  1. Home
  2. Coronavirus (COVID-19) Local News

North Shore teens offered COVID shots in high school

High school students in some North Vancouver and West Vancouver secondary schools are being offered COVID-19 vaccinations
Jane Seyd
Jane Seyd
vaccination
North Van and West Van teens are being offered COVID vaccinations at some high schools, along with other routine immunizations.

High school students in some North Shore secondary schools are being offered COVID-19 vaccinations if they haven’t already received two shots.

COVID vaccinations have been offered at three high schools this week, including Rockridge, Sentinel and Sutherland.

In some cases, the COVID vaccines were offered in conjunction with other routine vaccinations – many of which have been skipped in the past 18 months as public health nurses worked in mass COVID-19 vaccination clinics and contact tracing.

In some cases, the clinics were offered as a “pop-up” that school staff and family members of students were also free to drop in on.

Information on the vaccination clinics went home to families in advance, according to both school districts.

Under B.C.’s “mature minor” consent laws, teens can also consent to vaccines, even if they don’t have their parents’ permission.

Some parents have complained that schools aren’t always doing enough to promote the clinics.

One parent posted on a North Shore Facebook site that no announcements were made at her son’s school on the day of the clinic and by the time he showed up to get a shot, the clinic was over. A second parent related a similar experience.

The chance to get caught up on COVID-19 vaccinations in school is new this month. Previously, youth 12 and over could only get vaccinated at public clinics.

Rates of vaccination among teens on the North Shore are relatively high.

About 76 per cent of teens between 12 and 17 in West Vancouver and 81 per cent of teens in North Vancouver are fully vaccinated, according to B.C.’s Centre for Disease Control. Between 87 and 91 per cent of teens have received one dose of vaccine.

That’s similar to the rates of vaccination for adults under 50 on the North Shore.

Rates of vaccination on the North Shore are still inching up, very slowly, with between 87 and 92 per cent of people over 12 having received one dose, and between 81 and 86 per cent of those fully vaccinated.

Rates of vaccination remain highest in adults over 50.

Currently, youth under 22 are exempt from vaccine passport requirements for many sports and recreation programs but still have to show proof of vaccination to attend restaurants, concerts and indoor events.