Miami, Broward districts to open vaccine sites at schools for children ages 5 to 11
Miami-Dade and Broward public schools will begin offering the newly authorized Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 pediatric vaccine to children ages 5 and up starting this week, school officials said Monday.
The latest development comes as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted Emergency Use Authorization for the Pfizer vaccination for children between the ages of 5 and 11 on Oct. 29, followed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommending it on Nov. 2.
In August, the FDA approved the Pfizer vaccine for individuals 16 and over. In May, the agency granted emergency use authorization for the vaccine in children between 12 and 15.
In Miami-Dade County Public Schools, vaccines will be available to children 5 and up at about 40 different schools weekly beginning this week, said Daisy Gonzalez-Diego, a district spokeswoman.
“As we did when the COVID-19 vaccine first became available to children 12 and older, Miami-Dade County Public Schools will continue to collaborate with local entities, including the Florida Department of Health, the University of Miami and Miami-Dade County, to expand our voluntary, school-site vaccination program for children ages 5-11,” Gonzalez-Diego said in a statement.
The district typically rotates which schools it uses for vaccination sites, said Elmo Lugo, another district spokesperson. The weekly list of sites can be found at https://backtoschool.dadeschools.net.
Starting Wednesday, students ages 5 to 11 who attend a public elementary or middle school in Broward County will be able to get a COVID-19 vaccine on campus.
Broward County Public Schools, in partnership with the county’s health department, will be hosting the vaccine pop-ups at its elementary and middle schools on select days over the next several months.
The school district in May held similar pop-ups at different high schools across the county to help students 16 and older get vaccinated.
Parents will receive details from their child’s school on how they can request their child to be vaccinated.
The pop-up sites at the schools will be offering Pfizer’s COVID vaccine, which has emergency use authorization for kids as young as 5 and has full FDA approval for people 16 and older.
The vaccine requires two doses, three weeks apart.
Parents will get information from their child’s school on how they can get their child vaccinated. Pediatricians and public health experts highly recommend parents get their child vaccinated to stop community spread of COVID-19.
This story was originally published November 8, 2021 at 5:35 PM.
