NAPLES, Fla. — As the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines for children as young as 6 months old on Friday, Florida is the only state to opt out of pre-ordering a supply.
The decision to not order vaccines by this week’s deadline came from Gov. Ron DeSantis, which he defended Thursday saying Floridians are still “free to choose,” but the state will not use its resources to inoculate young children.
“Doctors can get it. Hospitals can get it. But there’s not going to be any state programs that are going to be trying to get COVID jabs to infants and toddlers and newborns,” DeSantis said at a press conference in Miami. “That’s not something we think is appropriate.”
The FDA’s decision followed the unanimous recommendation of its independent expert panel that the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine be allowed for children as young as 6 months. The advisory committee found the vaccines safe and effective for the youngest children and that the benefits outweigh the risks
More:FDA authorizes Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines for youngest kids
Pharmacies, some supermarket chains and community centers in Florida can still get the shots by preordering directly from the federal government. Florida health department spokesperson Jeremy Redfern told the Associated Press that hospitals and other places can order them via a Florida government website and receive the doses within a week.
“This just cuts out the middle man,” he said.
But the state’s decision means pediatricians and children’s hospitals in Florida were left to figure out how to deal with a potential delay in getting COVID-19 vaccines for young children.
Roy Adams, spokesman for Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, which has outpatient centers in Sarasota and Fort Myers, said Thursday that hospital officials were trying to figure out what the state’s decision not to preorder supply means.
“What we are trying to do, from our perspective, is (figure out) how are we going to get supply,” he said.
When asked about Florida being the only state not to order supply, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said Thursday: “We encouraged Florida on several occasions to order vaccines and we continue to do so.”
A spokesman for CVS Health, the national pharmacy chain, said CVS is not impacted: “As a federal pharmacy partner, we are able to order vaccines directly from the federal government,” spokesman Matt Blanchette said in an email.
The University of Florida Health system in Gainesville declined to comment when contacted Thursday.
DeSantis on Thursday blamed “media hysteria” and misinformation as the motive for urging vaccinations upon young children. Florida still only recommends vaccinations only for individuals 5 and older.
But an FDA expert panel this week unanimously found Moderna’s vaccine safe for children 6 months to 6 years old for providing protection against the virus, and it also voted to support a Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children ages 6 months to 5 years.
Before Friday, the FDA had only allowed Moderna’s vaccine for only adults over 18, while Pfizer’s shots were available to anyone 5 years and older.
The vaccines for young children could be available as soon as Tuesday. The Biden administration has said 10 million vaccines will be ready and delivered to children’s hospitals, pediatricians and pharmacies once authorized.
The Biden administration is also making a big push for pediatricians and primary care providers, children’s museums, libraries, children’s hospitals and health clinics.
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COVID-19 remains threat for children
Nearly 75,000 Floridians have died from COVID-19, while almost 6.3 million cases have been officially reported since the pandemic began in 2020.
Although young children have largely been spared the worst of COVID-19, they can become seriously ill, and more than 200 have died from infections, according to data presented by the FDA.
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Half of the young children hospitalized with COVID-19 did not have any preexisting conditions before they fell ill, the FDA said.
The outside experts voted unanimously that the benefits of the shots outweigh any risks for children under 5 — that’s roughly 18 million youngsters. They are the last age group in the U.S. without access to COVID-19 vaccines and many parents have been eager to protect their little children.
“This is a long-awaited vaccine,” said FDA panel member Dr. Jay Portnoy. “There are so many parents who are absolutely desperate to get this vaccine, and I think we owe it to them to give them a choice to have the vaccine if they want to.”
Dr. Peter Marks, FDA’s vaccine chief, opened the meeting with data showing a “quite troubling surge’’ in young children’s hospitalizations during the omicron wave, and noted 442 children under 4 have died during the pandemic. That’s far fewer than adult deaths, but should not be dismissed in considering the need for vaccinating the youngest kids, he said.
Contributing: Ashley Williams, USA TODAY; Jason Delgado of USA TODAY Network – Florid; Associated Press
