Pfizer recently announced that their vaccine is extremely effective in children ages 12-15, and studies in younger children are underway. This is exciting! You may be wondering what this means in terms of getting your children the vaccine, including when it will be available and where they will be able to get it.
The answer to this is there are many additional steps that need to happen before children will start receiving the vaccine. Firstly, studies need to not just be completed but also reviewed by the FDA, and then the CDC/ACIP also has to conclude based on the available data if it is clinically recommended in children and at what time frame, what ages and what dosages, or if more data is needed first. Then, there needs to be adequate supply for the highest risk people to receive the vaccine before it is opened up to lower risk individuals based on states’ numbers and vaccination plans. So that may be a while, hopefully in the next 3-6 months with the older kids being first in line before the younger ones.
Right now the government owns and distributes doses of the vaccine, primarily through large vaccination sites, which is likely to continue for the near future. Once the pandemic is felt to be under good control and vaccination is widely enough available, it’s expected that this will at some point shift to providers ordering vaccine from manufacturers and administering it in clinic like other routine vaccines. This will likely be right around the time that younger children are regularly starting to get the vaccine, which could align quite nicely for kids to be able to get it at pediatricians’ offices, maybe in a year or so. Prior to that point, there may be a period of time where it is approved for children but not widely available to clinics yet. During that time, the Oregon Immunization Program expects that kids will be able to receive the vaccine at state immunization sites just like adults. There may be an option for clinics to “borrow” a small number of shots to administer in clinic for children so kids can get the vaccine at their own clinic, but the logistics of this are complicated with highly restrictive storage requirements to where it may not be feasible. We will of course be watching as things unfold and notify our families if the vaccine becomes available for children and when/where they should plan to receive it. Stay tuned!
Until clinics take over the vaccination effort, to check eligibility for and register for a COVID vaccine appointment go to getvaccinated.oregon.gov