Ohio prepares to deliver COVID-19 vaccine to children ages 5-11

Parents of Ohio children ages 5 to 11 will be given plenty of options to get vaccinated against COVID-19 when federal officials give a nod, state health officials say.

The Ohio Health Department announced Wednesday it is working closely with pediatricians, family doctors, adult and children’s hospitals, schools, and pharmacies across the state to prepare for the vaccinations. The department stated in a public release that it has "informed providers that they should be ready to vaccinate children 5-11 years old shortly after FDA authorization is granted and the CDC makes its recommendations."

The health department is working with the Ohio chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Ohio Children’s Hospital Association to prepare, officials said. Efforts include partnerships with 260 school districts across the state that expect to offer vaccination clinics in schools and their local communities for children, officials said.

The elementary-school age group could become eligible for the Pfizer BioNTech, two-dose COVID-19 vaccination in early November. Pfizer and BioNTech asked federal regulators to authorize emergency use of their coronavirus vaccine earlier this month.

Here's how the process goes: The Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will review the data for the vaccine and give its advice to the FDA. The committee is slated to meet on Tuesday. 

"I think there's a good likelihood that will happen," said Dr. Robert Frenck, professor of pediatrics for the division of infectious diseases and director of the Gamble Center for Vaccine Research at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. Clinical studies on the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine for young children, teenagers and adults were held at the center.

If the independent panel says the vaccine is safe and effective for children and the emergency use authorization should be lowered to the 5- to 11-year-olds, and the FDA agrees, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will look to its own advisory panel, Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices for its approval. That panel is expected to meet Nov. 2-3. And if the committee gives a thumbs up, the CDC will decide whether to recommend the vaccine's use.

The Ohio Health Department will closely follow the developments, officials said in its public statement.

While Frenck said he cannot predict with certainty how quickly the federal process will go, he said it's possible that the first dose of vaccines would be available to the young children within a week of the CDC recommendation (assuming all is approved). And he said, "They would certainly be available by Thanksgiving."

"That's important," Frenck said, because in 2020, the United States suffered a surge in COVID-19 cases that coincided with travel around the holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas.

While he said it is important to get children fully vaccinated, they will be somewhat protected from the virus two weeks after the first dose of the vaccine.

The state health officials' release came after the White House announced details Wednesday of its plans to roll out the vaccines to elementary-age children across the country. The lower-dose Pfizer vaccine would be available to 23 million children nationwide, with 15 million doses shipped in the first week after the CDC alone.

Cincinnati Children’s expects to make the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine available to children ages 5-11 after it is authorized, officials said Wednesday. The medical center currently operates vaccine clinics for children who are eligible for the Pfizer vaccine and, "strongly encourages parents to get themselves and their children vaccinated to safeguard their family and others in our community amid the pandemic."

"Ohio’s goal is to ensure fair, equitable distribution across the state so this important COVID-19 vaccine for younger Ohioans is available in each of Ohio’s 88 counties," the state health department said.

Ohio Vax-2-School program will be expanded to include children ages 5 to 11 years old, health officials noted. 

Questions about COVID-19 vaccine for kids 5-11? Cincinnati Children's expert gives answers