Administration ‘not too worried’ about the slow pace kid covid vaccine orders
Biden’s administration insists it is “not too concerned” about the slow pace of vaccines for children under five and plans to make injections available in clinics in schools, museums, libraries, diaper banks and pharmacies
- Biden administration not ‘too concerned’ over slow pace of orders for covid vaccines for children under five
- Administration has announced its pediatric vaccine rollout plan
- FDA and CDC to meet next week on issue, expected to approve
- Dosages for children are available for pre-order
- But only 58% of the available 2.5 million Pfizer vaccines have been ordered and only 34% of the Moderna vaccine
- “We’re not too concerned or focused on that,” the government official said
Biden administration insists it’s not ‘too concerned’ about slow pre-orders for covid vaccines for children under five, saying it expects the pace to pick up after it’s officially approved for use .
The government announced its long-awaited plans for the rollout of vaccines on Thursday, ahead of the expected authorization for children aged five and under to receive their injections.
Next week, the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will consider whether to approve and recommend the first COVID-19 vaccines for children under age 5. Both agencies are expected to approve it.
But dosing pre-orders for those kids have been slow.
Jurisdictions across the country can pre-order with 5 million doses available as of last week.
So far, 58% of the available 2.5 million Pfizer vaccines have been ordered and only 34% of the Moderna vaccines, officials said.
The administration of President Joe Biden is not too concerned about the slow pace of orders for covid vaccines for children under five
First covid vaccines for children aged five and under could be available on June 21
“Our experience is that people are slow to order, and this was true of all the times we started ordering, so I wouldn’t focus on those early numbers,” a senior administration official said during a briefing interview Wednesday. “Our experience is that the longer the order stays open, the more likely the states are to come forward, so part of this is just letting them know the order is available and they can start that process.”
“We’re not too concerned or focused on that. We will continue to do the outreach,” the official said.
In April, a Kaiser Family Foundation pool found that only 18 percent of parents with children under the age of 5 said they would get them vaccinated right away, while 38 percent said they would wait.
The administration says it will be ready to ship doses to the states once approval comes through the health authorities.
Vaccinations will be available at pediatricians and other doctor’s offices, diaber banks, libraries, children’s museums, health centers, rural health clinics, children’s hospitals, public health clinics, local pharmacies and other community organizations, according to a White Factsheet from the house.
The government says 85 percent of children under five live within five miles of a potential vaccination site.
The first vaccines could start as early as June 21, the government said.