“I’m really excited to have this opportunity,” DeRoo, a pediatrician at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, DC, told CNN’s Suzanne Malveaux on Tuesday about her son’s vaccination. DeRoo added that her family will now feel more comfortable participating in certain activities, knowing that their youngest son has started his own series of vaccines for Covid-19. “It will definitely allow us to have more freedom with our personal lives and what we do,” DeRoo said. “And for the baby, we will feel that we have covered it with as much protection as we can.” Vaccination against Covid-19 for children under 5 begins on Tuesday across the United States, marking a milestone in the country’s fight against the disease. Last week, the US Food and Drug Administration extended the emergency licenses for the Moderna vaccine to include children 6 months to 17 years old and Pfizer / BioNTech for children 6 months to 4 years old. Then, on Saturday, the Director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Rochelle Wallenski, signed the vaccinations against Covid-19 for children under 5 years, paving the way for vaccination in this age group. About 17 million children under the age of 5 are now eligible for Covid-19 vaccines. “This is a great day. We have been waiting a long time for children to have access to the vaccine. Now we have every age group, 6 months and older, in the country that is now eligible for protection against the Covid-19 vaccine. And I’ll tell you as a dad “This is a big deal for my family, too,” Dr. Vivek Murthy, a U.S. general surgeon, told CNN’s Brianna Keilar on Tuesday morning. By the end of Tuesday, the Office of Assistant Secretary of State for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) of the US Department of Health and Human Services had delivered approximately 2.7 million vaccine doses for children under 5 years of age nationwide. “Another 1 million doses have been shipped and will be received from management sites shortly,” HHS spokesman Tim Granholm wrote in an email to CNN on Wednesday morning. “HHS has received orders for approximately 4.2 million doses to date,” Granholm wrote. “We will continue to deliver vaccines quickly as we fulfill orders and receive new ones. We have 10 million doses of vaccine to order initially, with millions more available soon, so the offer should not be a barrier to anyone vaccinating their young child.”

Vaccines given in doses the size of a child

According to FDA approval, the Moderna vaccine can be given as a main two-dose series, with doses given at four-week intervals, at 25 micrograms per dose, to infants and children 6 months to 5 years of age. While the FDA has approved the Moderna vaccine for children ages 6 to 17, the CDC has not yet recommended it for this age group, so these vaccines cannot yet be given. The FDA authorization will allow children ages 6 to 11 to receive doses of 50 micrograms each. For ages 12 and up, it will be given in doses of 100 micrograms. The Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine can now be given as an initial three-dose series, at 3 micrograms each, for use in infants and children 6 months to 4 years of age. The vaccine is given as the main two-dose series at 10 micrograms per dose for children 5 to 11 years of age and at 30 micrograms per dose for adolescents and adults 12 years of age and older. Completing the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine series is a longer process, as the first two doses are given three weeks apart and then the third dose is given eight weeks later. Dr. Jeannette Lee, of the University of Arkansas University of Medical Sciences, who serves on the FDA Vaccine Advisory Committee, has expressed concern about children not completing all three doses. “Three doses will definitely benefit. I’m very concerned that many of these children will not take a third dose,” Lee said. “My concern is that you have to take the three doses to really get what you need.” For children who can become 4 to 5 years old at any time while completing the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine range, the CDC recommends two options. The child could complete the main two-dose series approved for children 5 to 11 years old or could complete the three-dose series for younger children, but each of the 2 and 3 doses may be either the smaller dose children either aged 5 to 11. The FDA’s Advisory Committee on Vaccines and Related Organic Products said the benefits of both vaccines outweighed the risks, noting that the vaccines were “well tolerated” among children who underwent them in clinical trials. According to clinical trial data, common side effects for both vaccines include injection site pain, headache, fever, chills and fatigue. Vaccines have been shown to elicit similar immune responses in children as has been observed in adults.

Where young children can be vaccinated

Pediatricians’ offices and pharmacies are the main places where young children could be vaccinated. “We know that parents will want their children vaccinated at pediatricians’ offices. Some people will go to a pharmacy, some will go to a children’s hospital or some kind of community health center,” said Dr. Ashish Jha. The White House’s Covid-19 response coordinator told CBS on Monday. “But the bottom line is that I think most parents will want to vaccinate their child at their pediatrician,” said Ja. “So many pediatricians will offer the vaccine.”
As for the pharmacy locations that offer these child-sized vaccines, CVS and Walgreens have announced plans to provide vaccinations. CVS will begin administering Pfizer vaccines for Covid-19 to children under the age of five on Tuesday, a communications spokesman told CNN. “We will begin delivering the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine to eligible children aged 18 months to four years at our 1,100 MinuteClinic sites from Tuesday,” Matt Blanchette, senior director of retail communications at CVS Pharmacy, told CNN. . “MinuteClinic is located in select CVS Pharmacy stores in 35 states and in Washington, DC,” said Blanchette. Appointments will be available on a rolling basis depending on the vaccine supply.
Blanchette said children over the age of 5 would still have access to Covid-19 vaccines at CVS pharmacies. On Saturday, Walgreens announced in a press release that vaccination appointments for young children will be available from June 25. Walgreens will vaccinate children 3 years of age and older at “selected” locations and appointments can be scheduled online. Hy-Vee pharmacies will have Covid-19 vaccines available for children under 5 when the doses are available, a spokesman for CNN said Monday. “Hy-Vee expects to receive its grants for the newly approved age groups in the coming days,” Tina Potthoff, senior vice president of communications, wrote in an email.
“Once we receive the vaccine and schedule our appointments for these age groups, we will post an update on the COVID-19 vaccine landing page, post it on the Hy-Vee Facebook page and contact the media at eight state districts to inform them about our pediatric appointments “. Because of federal regulations, he wrote, Hy-Vee will only provide vaccinations to children 3 years of age and older. “Under PREP law, retail pharmacies, including Hy-Vee pharmacies, are only authorized to give vaccines to patients aged 3+,” Potthoff wrote in the email. “Patients under 3 years of age should visit their pediatrician or healthcare provider to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.” CNN’s Naomi Thomas and Virginia Langmaid contributed to this report.