Yukon public health officials continued to flog the virtues of COVID-19 vaccinations for children today during a bonus second virus briefing of this week.

Dr. Catherine Elliott, the acting chief medical officer of health, hosted the briefing along with local pediatrician Dr. Katherine Smart, who is also the president of the Canadian Medical Association.

Ironically, while they were extolling the virtues of the scientific consensus on the safety of the vaccines for children, the Swedish government announced it has decided against recommending COVID vaccines for kids aged five to 11.

According to a story published in the Toronto Sun, the Swedish Health Agency said today the benefits did not outweigh the risks.

That’s the same argument Ontario’s chief medical officer of health made approximately two weeks ago, to the surprise of many.

During the briefing, Elliott was asked how strong the scientific consensus is on the issue.

She said it’s practically ironclad, including advice from Canadian national officials, despite obvious differing opinions.

The briefing was held on National Kids and Vaccines Day, and most of its content was focused on children.

Both doctors repeatedly stressed the importance and the safety of having children in the five-11 age range vaccinated.

Smart in particular said eight million children worldwide have received the vaccines with few side-effects. That shows just how safe the vaccines are, she said.

Currently, the booster shot – the third dose – is not being recommended for children unless they have some serious immune-compromised conditions or diseases.

Elliott said she didn’t have the figures on hand to comment on how many children have been hospitalized with COVID-19 during the pandemic.

During the Omicron outbreak, no children have been in the hospital.

They have been showing up in numbers at the Whitehorse General Hospital since Omicron began, Elliott said, but no serious cases have been noted.

“Children do not generally develop severe symptoms,” she said.

Both doctors argued the case for the vaccines, saying they offer 50 per cent protection against infection, and much higher protection against serious illness and hospitalization.

Smart also noted the vaccines provide some protection against post-virus problems, including a type of inflammation that COVID-19 can cause in children recovering from it.

Vaccinated children are also very rarely admitted to hospitals, as the vaccine seems to provide almost total effectiveness against severe illness, Smart said.

Elliott also provided a brief update on the current COVID-19 numbers.

She said there are 209 active cases, averaging 34 per day over the last seven days.

Those numbers, as she has said for the last two weeks, don’t provide an accurate glimpse into the ongoing situation.

That’s due to changes and limitations in the availability of PCR lab tests, which have been reduced under the pressure of the Omicron outbreak.

Also, the results could be skewed by the fact that people taking rapid tests at home aren’t being asked to report their results.

When pressed by a reporter on that question, Elliott compared the situation to tracking cases of influenza.

Government health officials are using a similar model to influenza to look at the big picture, she said, rather than be focused on individual cases.

She also addressed the emergence of a new sub-variant of COVID-19 in several countries around the world, including cases in Canada, notably Alberta.