By: Tianhao Chen

This past Friday, June 17th, Florida has decided to allow pediatricians, children’s hospitals and other physicians to order coronavirus vaccines for children under 5 years of age after medical experts and the White House pressured them to do so.

Prior to Florida’s decision, it was the only state that did not allow health care providers to preorder the vaccines prior to the federal government’s deadline on June 14. This means that they would not get any doses during the first wave of rollouts that started this past Monday and would also miss the second wave the following week.

Despite this, Gov. Robert DeSantis and his administration stood their ground on not pre-ordering any vaccines. “I would say we are affirmatively against the Covid vaccine for young kids. These are the people who have zero risk of getting anything.” DeSantis said on Thursday while defending the administration’s choice to not pre-order any vaccines.

Some have criticized DeSantis’s decision. Dr. Ashish K. Jha, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, told New York Times reporters on Friday, “[t]he state of Florida intentionally missed multiple deadlines to order vaccines to protect its youngest kids”. By Friday morning, a congressional subcommittee overseeing the Coronavirus response sent him a letter that urged him to reverse his position.

This past Thursday, June 16th, State officials stated that doctors could order vaccines as needed. But that would require a state portal, which was not open then. Some even suggested doctors order vaccines from the federal government, but Dr. Lisa Gynn, the president of the Florida chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and an associate professor at the University of Miami, stated that it was not possible.

On Friday morning, the Food and Drug Administration authorized the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine’s use for very young children. Following this order, Florida decided to allow orders of the vaccine.

Florida’s decision prompted the White House to praise the decision. DeSantis’s administration reiterated that it only allowed orders due to the authorization of the vaccine on very young children but haven’t changed their original position. The White House described the move as a “reversal”, but Bryan Griffin, a deputy press secretary for Mr. DeSantis, said that it was “patently false”, stating, “[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.”

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