Florida is the only state that hasn’t preordered COVID-19 vaccines for toddlers in anticipation of their final approval by the federal government.
FILE - A boy receives a dose of China's Sinovac COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine at a community vaccination center in Hong Kong on Feb. 25, 2022. U.S. government advisers met Wednesday, June 15, 2022 to decide whether to endorse COVID-19 shots for babies, toddlers and preschoolers, moving the nation closer to vaccinations for all ages. According to the World Health Organization, 12 countries are vaccinating kids under 5.
Florida officials said the jabs would be available at pharmacies and community health centers, which can preorder them directly from the federal government, and that children's hospitals and other clinics would be able to order them from the federal government via a state portal and receive them quickly.
Florida’s Health Department does not recommend COVID-19 vaccines for healthy children under 17, but says children with underlying health conditions should be considered candidates for them. That advice contradicts the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which so far has recommended the vaccines for everyone 5 years and older, saying the shots provide strong protection against hospitalization and death.
“The timing doesn't necessarily change" in a significant way, Redfern said. “This just cuts out the middle man.”