Demand For Children's Covid Vaccinations Far Exceeds Expectations

Demand for pediatric Covid vaccine doses has far exceeded expectations so far, even in vaccine resistant states like Texas. 

The reason seems to be that parents do not want to miss any more school - nor do they want to miss work due to children at home - and because many are hoping, for the first time in two years, to have family reunions over the Thanksgiving holiday which comes in three weeks. Medical experts believe this rush of children's vaccinations could help offset yet another winter surge of the virus. JL

Shawn Hubler and Sharon LaFraniere report in the New York Times:

Nationally, Walgreens and CVS pharmacies opened appointment lines for millions of miniature doses amid a deluge of demand from parents desperate to get their children at least partially inoculated by Thanksgiving. In Houston, Texas Children’s Hospital tackled the first of some 35,000 pediatric Covid-19 vaccine appointments, a rush booked in just five days. The Biden administration has enlisted 20,000 pediatricians, family doctors and pharmacies to administer the shots and is shipping 15 million doses.

In Houston, Texas Children’s Hospital on Wednesday morning tackled the first of some 35,000 pediatric Covid-19 vaccine appointments, a rush that officials said had been booked in just five days. Nationally, Walgreens and CVS pharmacies opened appointment lines for millions of miniature doses. And amid a deluge of demand from parents desperate to get their children at least partially inoculated by Thanksgiving, Dr. Eric Ball realized he would have to skip some of his friend’s daughter’s bat mitzvah.

“Yeah,” the Orange County, Calif., pediatrician said, laughing. “Looks like I’ll be vaccinating kids in my suit this Saturday.”

With the blessing of federal authorities — and just in time for yet another stressful holiday season — health care providers mobilized nationally this week for a fresh wave of inoculations, this time featuring smaller shots in smaller arms.

Late Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for children aged 5 through 11. The decision was in line with the Food and Drug Administration, which on Friday authorized emergency use of the pediatric dose for the roughly 28 million children in that age group.

Polls indicate that roughly a third of U.S. parents plan to leave their elementary-school-age children unvaccinated. But the latest vaccine announcement came as a relief not only to millions of families exhausted by the pandemic, but to public health officials who said it might help prevent a repeat of the terrifying surge of disease that swept the country last winter.

Although the infection rate in the United States plummeted for weeks as the reach of the contagious Delta variant ebbed, federal officials have warned that another spike is still possible. Absent vaccination, they say, younger children are vulnerable to hospitalization and, in the most rare cases, death from Covid-19, and they can transmit the virus to people of all age groups.

The Biden administration has enlisted 20,000 pediatricians, family doctors and pharmacies to administer the shots and is shipping 15 million doses. About five million of them are allocated to pharmacies in the federal program that have been key to the adult vaccination rollout. The other 10 million are allocated to states.