Every state but Florida pre-ordered COVID-19 vaccines for kids under 5
Every state has placed an order with the federal government to ensure coronavirus vaccines for young children are delivered as soon as regulators authorize their use — except for one.
Florida missed a Tuesday deadline to request delivery of COVID-19 pediatric vaccines for children under 5, guaranteeing a delay in access for parents across the state, according to two U.S. government sources.
All other 49 states placed pre-orders, which will be delivered in two tranches beginning as early as Monday to thousands of pediatricians’ offices, children’s hospitals, pharmacies and health centers across the country. Those facilities in Florida will not have access during this time and will remain without supply until Florida places an order.
Jeremy Redfern, press secretary for the Florida Department of Health, confirmed the department “chose not to participate” in the vaccination program because the state health department is not following federal public health recommendations.
“The Florida Department of Health has made it clear to the federal government that states do not need to be involved in the convoluted vaccine distribution process, especially when the federal government has a track record of developing inconsistent and unsustainable COVID-19 policies,” Redfern said.
“It is also no surprise we chose not to participate in distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine when the Department does not recommend it for all children,” Redfern said. “Doctors can order vaccines if they are in need, and there are currently no orders in the Department’s ordering system for the COVID-19 vaccine for this age group.”
Florida’s surgeon general and secretary of the state department of health, Joseph Ladapo, has long criticized vaccination requirements for adults. In March, he recommended against vaccinating healthy kids, and the News Service of Florida reported Wednesday that Ladapo would not support inoculating the state’s youngest children either — frustrating pediatricians who say the need for COVID vaccines is clear.
“I think people like DeSantis and the surgeon general just make it much more difficult for [doctors] to do anything about getting folks to vaccinate their children,” said Dr. Louis St. Petery, a Tallahassee pediatric cardiologist who treats children with some of the highest risks for contracting COVID-19 due to their heart issues.
Petery said he treated a 4-year-old who was missing one heart chamber. Contracting COVID-19 would cause serious health consequences for that child, as those with heart issues are among those at highest risk for complications from COVID-19.
“This kid would be a logical candidate to get the 5-and-under vaccine, which [the state] didn’t ask for and we’re not going to be early in getting it,” Petery said.
Hospitals were ‘ready to go’
Children under 5 are the last remaining individuals still ineligible for coronavirus vaccines as vaccine manufacturers and regulators have conducted lengthy trials and data reviews.
An independent advisory committee for the Food and Drug Administration met over the past two days to review data submitted by Pfizer on its vaccine for children under 5, and by Moderna on its vaccine for those under 6, and endorsed the vaccines for children over six months old.
A separate advisory panel for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will meet on Friday and Saturday to make recommendations for the use of the vaccines.
The CDC director could then sign off on distribution as early as this weekend, making shots available as early as Monday.
READ MORE: Why the CDC says kids should get a COVID vaccine — despite what Florida says
“We are prepared to make vaccines readily available for our youngest kids pending FDA and CDC decisions, and we will deploy them as quickly as possible to their distribution channels for administration,” said a U.S. government source. “Without Florida ordering vaccines, pediatricians and children’s hospitals will initially be without vaccines, and Florida kids will be severely limited in their ability to get vaccinated.”
All pre-orders are expected to be delivered in the first week and a half of availability across the rest of the country.
Parents in Florida seeking vaccines for their children will still have two options to access the shots. Some community health centers have ordered vaccines directly through the federal government. And federal pharmacy partners will also have supply, although several chains will be prioritizing children ages 3 and up.
In Florida, 11 retail pharmacies are enrolled in the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program for COVID-19 vaccines, including CVS Health, Walgreens, Publix, Costco and Kroger. Southeastern Grocers — the parent company of Winn-Dixie, Fresco y Mas, and Harveys Supermarket — as well as Walmart, which owns Sam’s Club, are also enrolled.
If the new pediatric vaccine gets authorized, Walgreens, Walmart and Southeastern Grocers plan to administer the vaccine to children as young as 3 at select stores in Florida.
CVS Health — which owns traditional CVS stores, Navarro Discount Pharmacies and CVS y mas — said it plans to provide the shots to kids as young as 18 months across the country through its 1,100 MinuteClinic locations.
Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital in Hollywood, part of Memorial Healthcare System, will be one facility heavily affected by a vaccine delay, as the state is its supplier of COVID-19 vaccines.
“What we plan to do now is have everything operationalized and ready to go for as soon as we have the vaccine in hand and be able to administer it,” said Dr. Ronald Ford, chief medical officer at the children’s hospital.
Ford said the hospital’s director of pharmacies did place an order “requesting that when the vaccine was available in the state that we would receive doses.”
Ford isn’t sure when the hospital would get the newly authorized vaccine for children under 5. Plans are in place to set up small clinics that will accept appointments for children to get the doses as soon as possible.
“I think there are parents out there who are anxiously awaiting this,” he said.
Miami Herald staff writers Devoun Cetoute and Michelle Marchante contributed to this report.
This story was originally published June 15, 2022 at 1:50 PM with the headline "Every state but Florida pre-ordered COVID-19 vaccines for kids under 5."
