By: Zoe Hu

On Friday, June 17th, the Florida State Government started to allow pediatricians, children’s hospitals, and other physicians to order and give Covid-19 vaccines to children younger than five. This change came about after increasing pressure from the federal government and medical professionals.

Because the Florida Government didn’t permit pediatricians and children’s hospitals to preorder the Covid vaccines sooner, they will be getting the vaccines at least two weeks later than other states, missing the first two shipments. Dr. Ashish K. Jha, the White House’s coronavirus response coordinator, criticized this move, saying “the state of Florida intentionally missed multiple deadlines to order vaccines to protect its youngest kids.”

The White House says that this is a move in the right direction, calling it a “reversal,” by the Florida Republican Governor, Ron DeSantis. The governor’s administration says that it did not shift from its original position, and it has only permitted orders now because the Food and Drug Administration authorized Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines for children below five on Friday.

Deputy press secretary for Mr. DeSantis, Bryan Griffin, made a statement on Friday denying the characterization of the reveal of the policy, “[w]e 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.” He also added that, “[t]he state of Florida does not recommend the vaccine be administered to healthy children.”

The doctors are still getting mixed messages about when and how to order vaccines. The state officials told them that they could start ordering on Thursday, but the state portal does not open until Friday. Dr. Lisa Gwynn, the president of the Florida chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and an associate professor at the University of Miami, claimed she had contacted the Florida Department of Health about how to order the vaccines last week, but wasn’t getting any information. “First they said providers could order directly from the federal government,” she added. “That’s not true. We have to order through the state.”

Governor DeSantis, 2024 presidential hopeful, has long stood against the rule of face masks being mandatory, and Covid-19 vaccines being mandatory for children. He defended his position on Thursday, saying “I would say we are affirmatively against the Covid vaccine for young kids. These are the people who have zero risk of getting anything.”

Link to the article: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/17/us/florida-pediatric-covid-vaccine-children-desantis.html