How can kids from 5 to 11 get covid-19 vaccine in Florida?

Following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention giving the green light on November 2 for the vaccination of young children against covid-19, many states, including Florida, are set to start injecting kids a young as five Pfizer with shots as early as this Saturday.  

The children's vaccination vials, which have an orange cap to differentiate them from the adult ones, would be administered in two small doses separated by three weeks. In contrast with the adult vaccination dose, these vials are just a third of the amount administered to teens and adults as health authorities found that children could remain equally protected with a smaller dosage, and hence decreasing the strength of vaccination secondary effects, which could include fatigue, fever or pain in the arm where the vaccine was given. 

Florida set to start vaccinating kids Saturday

Medical providers and pharmacies in Southwest Florida are gearing up to give doses of the covid-19 vaccine to children ages five to 11 after the CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, reportedly recommended the vaccine Tuesday.

“We know millions of parents are eager to get their children vaccinated and with this decision, we now have recommended that about 28 million children receive a covid-19 vaccine," Walensky said in a statement.

Pharmacies such as CVS and Walgreens have already received their Pfizer small doses and are accepting appointments for shots beginning this weekend. Nevertheless, many other drugstores, including Rite Aid, Publix and Walmart, are expected to announce in the following days the stock of Pfizer vaccines for kids in their stores. One of them has already confirmed they will start to administer doses in some of their stores shortly.

According to Publix spokeswoman Maria Brous:

"While we have not made a formal announcement, once the vaccine is received select Publix pharmacies will administer Pfizer covid-19 vaccine doses to children ages five to 11 as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention," Brous said. "We'll provide more details once they're available."

How to get children vaccinated?

As the newly eligible age range is five to 11, they will have to have a legal guardian with them at the moment of their vaccination, as well as them signing a consent form prior to the shot.

Walgreens and CVS are already getting appointments for Saturday and Sunday. In order to schedule a vaccination appointment at Walgreens visit their official website.

“Walgreens pharmacy team members have significant experience vaccinating children and adolescents, and are ready to immunize this newly eligible population safely and as quickly as possible,” Walgreens’ chief medical officer Kevin Ban said. “The covid-19 vaccine is just as important to protect children as other routine immunizations are, and the expanded eligibility will help children stay in school safely and prevent severe illness due to covid-19.”

However, if you'd rather schedule an appointment through CVS Health, which includes Navarro Discount Pharmacies, CVS, and other common CVS stores, visit CVS.com or the CVS app. In this case, CVS will start its vaccination program for eligible children on Sunday, a day after Walgreens.