By: Felicia Chen

Beginning on Friday in the state of Florida, healthcare professionals are able to order coronavirus vaccines for very young children after immense amounts of pressure from the public and from medical doctors working for the federal government. Florida families now have access to have their young ones vaccinated at their local doctor’s office.

Although Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida, and his administration had previously ordered the vaccine, it was only permitted once the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines were authorized by the Food and Drug Administration for very young children on Friday morning. Healthcare providers can place orders only once the vaccines are F.D.A approved. When the approval came through, providers were able to order young children’s vaccines through the state portal.

“First they said providers could order directly from the federal government,” Dr. Lisa Gwynn, the president of the Florida chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and an associate professor at the University of Miami, noted. “That’s not true. We have to order through the state.”

Additionally: “Vaccinations for very young children are typically administered at pediatricians’ offices, but unlike pharmacies in the federal Covid vaccine program, doctors cannot order doses on their own,” Dr. Gwynn said.

In fact, out of fifty states in the United States, Florida was the single state that prevented health departments from pre ordering coronavirus shots for children under five. This resulted in Floridian doctors missing both the first and second wave of pre ordered vaccine shipments, while doctors in other states already have the vaccine in their offices or their orders are on their way.

Dr. Ashish K. Jha, the White House’s coronavirus response coordinator, shared, “The state of Florida intentionally missed multiple deadlines to order vaccines to protect its youngest kids.”

“We have always maintained the position that the state of Florida has chosen not to be involved in the pre ordering or distribution of the vaccine for children under five,” Dr. Jha said.

Mr. DeSantis firmly believes that the vaccine should not be administered to healthy children, because he believes young children are not at risk. The governor even received a letter from the Congressional standing committee, insisting that he change his stance. Even given their efforts, DeSantis had not changed his opinion.

Sources:

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