LOS ANGELES—Los Angeles County will begin offering pediatric doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to kids aged 5-11 on Nov. 3, one day after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) gave final approval of the shots.
The county received its first shipment of the vaccines on Tuesday, and county officials will gather at a park in East Los Angeles late this afternoon to mark the beginning of the vaccination effort for young children.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the pediatric shots last week, and a CDC advisory committee OK'd them Tuesday morning.
CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky gave final approval Tuesday afternoon, making the shots immediately available to those age 5-11.
Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said there are 900 providers in the county that are ready to administer the pediatric doses.
“Sites that receive doses today [Tuesday] might be able to start vaccinations as early as [Wednesday] afternoon or Thursday,” Ferrer told the county Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.
She said that while the county received its first shipment of pediatric doses Tuesday, it expects to receive a total of nearly 300,000 doses within the next week to 10 days.
According to Ferrer, there are about 900,000 kids aged 5-11 in the county.
“We don’t anticipate scarcity, and we expect that there will be ample vaccines to meet demand,” she said.
The City of Long Beach, which has its own health department separate from the county, will begin offering the pediatric doses Friday.
The city estimated there are 43,900 kids aged 5-11 residing in Long Beach.
While the pediatric shots are roughly one-third of the dosage than the adult vaccine, the doses must be given on the same schedule—two shots administered 21 days apart.
Ferrer noted that children must have a signed consent form from an adult to receive the shot, and some vaccination sites require them to be accompanied by an adult.
The pediatric shots will be offered under an emergency use authorization, the same authorization given to the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, and to the Pfizer vaccine for people age 12-15.
Pfizer’s vaccine has full federal approval for people aged 16 and up.
According to Ferrer, there have been more than 79,000 COVID-19 cases during the pandemic among children age 5-11 in the county, and one fatality.
Despite federal approval of the shots for kids 5-11, students in that age group will not be subject to the Los Angeles Unified School District’s (LAUSD) student-vaccine mandate. The mandate will continue to apply only to students age 12 and up, requiring them to have at least one dose by Nov. 21 and their second by Dec. 19.
LAUSD officials issued a statement Tuesday saying the vaccine is “highly encouraged” for students age 5-11, and the district will begin offering doses to that age through its mobile clinics on Nov. 8, and through its school-based clinics on Nov. 16.
Debra Duardo, Los Angeles County superintendent of schools, said the Office of Education will work with health officials and local districts “to ensure parents and students have access to vaccines and additional information right in their neighborhoods.”
“These vaccines are an added layer of protection for our students, educators, and families,” Duardo said in a statement. “They are critical in helping us keep schools safe and open for in-person instruction.”
But not everyone is anxious to have kids vaccinated. One parent in Westchester Wednesday morning told KNX Newsradio she won’t be getting her child vaccinated, saying statistics indicate children are less susceptible to the virus and to severe illness. She said her child has been out and about for more than a year without any issues.
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