Parents looking for vaccine appointments or walk-in sites can visit Vaccines.gov to find the nearest available clinic or pharmacy.
More than 409,000 Michigan kids under the age of five will be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine, possibly as early as June 20. That’s the earliest the CDC is expected to deliver some 40,000 preordered doses to pharmacies in the state, plus another 65,600 to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, according to an MDHHS spokesperson.
“June 20 is the earliest the vaccine will be arriving to provider offices, but they will need to have time to train staff on this new vaccine and begin setting up appointments and/or walk-ins, so it may be a few days before providers have information loaded intovaccine finder and are ready to begin vaccinating,” said Chelsea Wuth, an MDHHS public information officer.
On Friday, the FDA issued emergency authorizationfor Pfizer and Moderna’s immunizations for children six months and older. (Previously, COVID vaccines had only been approved for those five and older.) The Moderna vaccine is “administered as a primary series of two doses, one month apart,” with a third dose available at least a month after the second dose for kids who are immunocompromised, according to the FDA.
Pfizer’s is administered as “a primary series of three doses in which the initial two doses are administered three weeks apart followed by a third dose administered at least eight weeks after the second dose” for children.
The announcement was a relief to pediatricians and many parents. “For nearly a year and half now, a lot of families with very young children have been waiting anxiously for this day to come, so it’s a huge relief to finally be able to say almost every American can now receive the critical protection against COVID-19 that these vaccines offer,” said Dr. Thomas Veverka, president of the Michigan State Medical Society, in a statement Friday.
“The FDA has properly studied the safety and efficacy of these vaccines in this age cohort and the results are clear: the benefits of the vaccine greatly outweigh any risks," he said. "The vaccine is safe, effective, and the best way to keep our youngest children healthy and safe. We encourage parents everywhere to act to get their children vaccinated and protected as soon as possible.”
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