Were kids given ice cream to take COVID-19 vaccine while parents held back? Totally false – OregonLive

The Associated Press checks out some of the most popular but completely untrue stories and visuals of the week. This one is bogus, even though it was shared widely on social media. Here are the facts:

CLAIM: Video shows parents in Toronto being blocked by police as children were given the COVID-19 vaccine in exchange for ice cream, without parental permission.

THE FACTS: Posts online are falsely claiming that a video showing protesters outside a vaccine pop-up clinic at Toronto City Hall were in fact parents trying to stop health professionals and police from vaccinating their children.

The city of Toronto and the University Health Network held a pop-up vaccination event on May 23 at City Hall, where 2,500 doses of vaccine were administered, along with free ice cream, to those 12 years of age and older, according to the University Health Network.

Canada became the first country to approve the Pfizer vaccine for 12- to 15-year-olds on May 5, a decision that was criticized by anti-vaccine advocates.

In videos online, protesters can be seen at Nathan Phillips Square outside City Hall speaking out against vaccinating children at the clinic.

This is our children and we will not back down, one woman could be heard yelling in the video at police.

Posts online shared the video to falsely claim it showed children being vaccinated against their parents wishes. A pop up vaccine clinic in Canada that is offering kids free ice cream in exchange for a vaccine, no parental permission required. Police are guarding the front to stop parents from intervening, one tweet said.

Another post claimed that the video showed parents being barred from a school campus where children were being vaccinated without parental consent.

Gillian Howard, a spokesperson for the University Health Network, said clinic staff did not see children being vaccinated without a family member present. Anyone receiving vaccination would have been taken through the consent process by clinical staff and if there was any indication that someone whatever their age didnt understand the consent process, they would not be vaccinated, she wrote in an email.

Only a handful of demonstrators took part in the protest. Howard said that police were present due to threats to the clinic.

Under Ontarios Health Care Consent Act, there is no minimum age to provide consent for vaccination, according to Toronto Public Health spokesperson Dr. Vinita Dubey. Rather, it is up to the healthcare providers to ensure that they obtain informed consent prior to immunization.

This means the healthcare provider administering the vaccine has to deem the youth capable of understanding their decision, Dubey said. If the individual is incapable of consenting to receiving the vaccine, they would need consent from their substitute decision-maker, such as their parent or legal guardian.

Beatrice Dupuy

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Were kids given ice cream to take COVID-19 vaccine while parents held back? Totally false - OregonLive