Young kids can now get the COVID-19 vaccine. Here’s where they can find them in Kansas
Kids in Kansas will be able to get the COVID-19 vaccine through their personal doctor, large suppliers or county health departments, Gov. Laura Kelly announced.
Kelly explained the state’s strategy to provide the vaccine to kids ages 5 to 11 in her Safer Classrooms Workgroup Wednesday afternoon.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment announced Wednesday morning it would follow new Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control guidelines in making a smaller dose of the Pfizer shot available to younger children.
“We stand ready to vaccinate more than 250,000 Kansas kids in this age group as quickly and as smoothly as possible,” Kelly said.
“Ultimately this decision will be up to our parents so I encourage all Kansans to talk to their doctors and other trusted healthcare providers.”
Kelly said Kansas will receive 128,000 child-sized doses of the Pfizer vaccine by the end of the week. More than half, Kelly said, will be sent to large vaccine providers and local health departments in the state.
The other half, Kelly said, will be sent in small batches to family physicians and pediatricians. Kelly encouraged school districts to coordinate with their local health departments on vaccination events.
Speaking to reporters Wednesday President Joe Biden said his administration was working with state and local leaders across the country to get younger kids vaccinated. More than 6,000 clinics had already been planned in school districts, Biden said.
Marci Nielsen, Kelly’s Chief Adviser on COVID-19, said vaccines should help mitigate the negative impacts COVID-19 has wrought on schools and school aged children.
The authorization of shots for younger kids is a welcome development, said Kansas Education Commissioner Randy Watson.
“Vaccinations, that’s the real way we’re really going to beat this virus,” Watson said.
Statewide, 53.7% of Kansans have had at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine according to KDHE data.
The authorization came after extensive studies by Pfizer and the FDA.
According to the Associated Press, Pfizer’s study of 2,268 youngsters found the kid-size vaccine is nearly 91% effective at preventing symptomatic COVID-19 — based on 16 diagnoses among kids given dummy shots compared to just three who got the real vaccination.
The FDA examined more children, a total of 3,100 who were vaccinated, in concluding the shots are safe. The younger children experienced similar or fewer reactions —such as sore arms, fever or achiness — than teens or young adults get after larger doses.
That study wasn’t large enough to detect any extremely rare side effects, such as the heart inflammation that occasionally occurs after the second full-strength dose, mostly in young men and teen boys. Regulators ultimately decided the benefits from vaccination outweigh the potential that younger kids getting a smaller dose also might experience that rare side effect.
Last week, FDA’s advisers struggled with whether every young child needed a vaccine. Youngsters hospitalized with COVID-19 are more likely to have high-risk conditions such as obesity or diabetes. But otherwise healthy children can get seriously ill, too, and the CDC’s advisers ultimately recommended the shots for all of them — even children who’ve already recovered from a bout of COVID-19.
CDC officials calculated that for every 500,000 youngsters vaccinated, between 18,000 and 58,000 COVID-19 cases — and between 80 and 226 hospitalizations — in that age group would be prevented, depending on the pandemic’s trajectory. And CDC officials noted that COVID-19 has caused more deaths in this age group than some other diseases, such as chickenpox, before children were routinely vaccinated against them.
The Associated Press and McClatchy DC’s Bryan Lowry contributed to this report.
This story was originally published November 3, 2021 at 3:01 PM with the headline "Young kids can now get the COVID-19 vaccine. Here’s where they can find them in Kansas."
