By: Alvin Fang

After a Covid-19 vaccine was realeased for kids ages 5-12, 49 states and the District of Columbia all accepted the pre-order vaccines, but Florida declined to pre-order vaccines for young children. This meant Florida wouldn’t receive the first allotment of vaccines that began shipping out on Friday after the FDA approved the Moderna and Pfizer shots for ages 6 months to 5 years. Florida also missed the 2nd preordered dose, which is scheduled to arrive a week later.

Florida still do not recommend vaccinating young children, particularly those under two years old.

“We have always maintained the position that the state of Florida has chosen not to be involved in the preordering or distribution of the vaccine for children under 5 years old,” stated Bryan Griffin, a deputy press secretary for Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office. “The state of Florida does not recommend the vaccine be administered to healthy children,”

But on June 17th, 2022, after facing withering pressure from medical professionals and the federal government, Florida began to allow pediatricians and vaccines, children’s hospitals, and other physicians on Friday began to order coronavirus vaccines for the youngest children, according to state and White House officials. This shift would make sure that families would be able to get the shots at a doctor’s office, Although they were later than any other state, they finally allowed pediatricians