Children ages 5 to 11 can now get a Covid-19 vaccine in the US

President Joe Biden speaks on the authorization of the Covid-19 vaccine for children aged 5 to 11, in Washington, DC on November 3.

Following news that children ages 5 to 11 can now get a Covid-19 vaccine in the United States, President Biden said today that Covid-19 vaccines will be available at “approximately 20,000 locations around the country.” 

Biden added that the administration has been working with governors, mayors and local school leaders to bring vaccines to schools. 

“As of today, more than 6,000 school clinics have already been planned in school districts around the country,” he said.

He noted that the administration is planning to make vaccines available at “hundreds of community health centers, rural health clinics and thousands of pharmacies and schools in our hardest-hit communities.”

In addition, Biden said that they will be sending out mobile health units “to reach where the people are.” 

President Joe Biden speaks on the authorization of the Covid-19 vaccine for children aged 5 to 11, in Washington, DC on November 3.

President Biden says parents should rest easy now that they can protect their kids “from this horrible virus” following the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’sauthorization of the Covid-19 vaccine for children ages 5 to 11.

Earlier Wednesday: The White House outlined how the Biden administration is ramping up the vaccination program for children.

President Joe Biden speaks on the authorization of the Covid-19 vaccine for children aged 5 to 11, in Washington, DC on November 3.

President Biden is delivering remarks from the White House about the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s authorization of the Covid-19 vaccine for kids ages 5 to 11.

On Tuesday evening, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky signed off on the recommendation, clearing the way for immediate vaccination of the youngest age group yet in the United States. The recommendation expands to include about 28 million children across the country, according to the CDC.

The President said in a statement Tuesday night that the authorization marks “a turning point in our battle against Covid-19” and “a major step forward for our nation in our fight to defeat the virus.”

Earlier Wednesday, the White House outlined how the Biden administration is ramping up the vaccination program for children.

Zients said that starting next week, the vaccination program for children will be fully up and running with about 20,000 “trusted and convenient locations” available for parents to get their kids vaccinated including pediatricians, family doctors, pharmacies, community health centers and children’s hospitals. Some of those locations have already started scheduling vaccine appointments for children and others, including CVS and Walgreens, will open scheduling systems on Wednesday.

Families are getting an early gift this holiday season: the chance to protect their children between the ages of 5 and 11 against Covid-19 through vaccination.

There won’t be time for younger children to be fully vaccinated by Thanksgiving or Hanukkah, but it’s still possible to protect them for Christmas, Kwanzaa and end-of-year gatherings.

Lise Niggemyer, a parent in the Seattle area, plans to have her 6-year-old daughter vaccinated before the holiday, not only to protect her child, but to prevent spread to her other family members.

“They have the vaccine and they’d much rather see the grandkids, but I would feel better knowing that I wasn’t unknowingly bringing it in the door or that someone one of my family members had seen in the past couple of days hadn’t transferred it over,” Niggemyer said.

If you’re hoping for your children to be fully vaccinated before holiday gatherings, aim for the following dates:

Nov. 19 for first dose

For the safest Christmas, the deadline for a child’s first dose is Nov. 19.

People start to see significant benefits of the first dose two weeks after their first shot, research has suggested. Having one dose before Thanksgiving or Hanukkah is better than nothing, Chaves-Gnecco said, but it takes both to ensure the optimal level of protection.

“They need to be fully vaccinated,” Wen said. “The partial protection of one vaccine isn’t sufficient.”

When scheduling the second dose, it is okay to be off by a couple of days if the three-week mark falls on a time when pharmacies and offices are closed for holidays.

Dec. 10 for second dose

In order to be fully protected by Christmas Eve, which is Dec. 24, children will need to get their second dose of the vaccine two weeks before – making Dec. 10 the effective deadline for that holiday.

If the holidays fall 10 or even seven days after the second dose, that may still provide enough protection, Wen said, but two weeks is the best bet.

Dr. Anthony Fauci speaks during the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing in Washington, DC on July 20.

With 8,300 children ages 5 to 11 having been hospitalized with Covid-19, a third of them needing intensive care and at least 94 deaths from the virus in this age group, there’s every reason to get children this age vaccinated, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Wednesday.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine for kids 5 to 11 late Tuesday and vaccinations have started. 

“Children and adults are equally vulnerable to coronavirus infection,” he added. “ We should not underestimate the incidence in children.”

Plus, he said, children under the age of 12 can transmit the infection to others and help spread the virus. Vaccinating them will help reduce the spread of the virus to everyone, Fauci said.

Vaccinating young children is important because children do need to be protected from Covid-19, US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy said Wednesday.

“During the pandemic, we’ve lost hundreds of children to Covid-19 including nearly 100 children ages 5 to 11. Thousands have been hospitalized, and thousands have developed a serious Covid-19 related inflammatory condition that affects multiple organ systems, including the heart,” Murthy added.

Some context: Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children or MIS-C has been diagnosed in more than 2,300 children ages 5-11, officials told the briefing.

“On top of this, many children have suffered with long Covid or symptoms like shortness of breath, fatigue and brain fog stretched out for weeks or even months. There also the effects of Covid-19 on our kids mental health and their social and emotional well-being,” Murthy said.

US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy said Wednesday he will be vaccinating his 5-year-old son against Covid-19.

“Ultimately, we want every child in our country to be safe from Covid and to be able to get back to the lives they love: sleepovers and birthday parties, school plays and soccer games, visits with friends and grandparents and so much more. And that’s why we must do everything we can to support parents as they consider vaccinating their children,” Murthy said. 

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended Pfizer’s child-sized dose of Covid-19 vaccine for 5-to-11-year-olds Tuesday after review by the US Food and Drug Administration and the CDC’s own independent advisers.

Children who have had Covid-19 should still be vaccinated, and need both doses of vaccine, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said Wednesday.

Studies show it’s safe for them to get the shots and will boost their protection, Walensky told a White House Covid-19 briefing. The CDC has recommended that children ages 5 to 11 get Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine and some have begun getting child-sized doses of the shots.

“We do know that after nearly all infectious diseases, you have some protection from getting that infection again, but we don’t really know how long that lasts or how robust it is,” she added.

Walensky also said there is not much concern about the risk of a rare heart inflammatory condition called myocarditis in the younger children, even though it’s a known risk for young men and adolescents who get Pfizer’s or Moderna’s shot.

“We carefully looked at this issue of myocarditis for 5- to 11-year-olds because of exactly the question and that is among the reasons that the dose was changed to a lower dose – 1/3 of the dose,” Walensky said.

White House Covid-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients outlined how the Biden administration is ramping up the vaccination program for children after the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director endorsed a recommendation to vaccinate children ages 5-11 against Covid-19, something he called “a landmark moment in our vaccination campaign.”

“This is an exciting and long awaited moment for parents and for our vaccination program,” he continued.

Zients said that starting the week of Nov. 8, the vaccination program for children will be fully up and running with about 20,000 “trusted and convenient locations” available for parents to get their kids vaccinated including pediatricians, family doctors, pharmacies, community health centers and children’s hospitals.

Some of those locations have already started scheduling vaccine appointments for children and others, including CVS and Walgreens, will open scheduling systems today.

Zients said that by the end of the week, parents and guardians can go to vaccines.gov to search for locations near them offering vaccinations for kids ages 5-11.

He also highlighted steps state and local health departments are taking to meet children and parents where they are in order to vaccinate children as soon as possible. 

“State and local health departments are planning to launch thousands of community based clinics, including at youth sporting events, fairs, zoos, and community centers. And across the country, schools will partner with vaccine providers to host vaccination clinics, with more than 6000 clinics at schools being planned before the winter holiday break,” he said.

The administration will also be meeting later Wednesday with governors offices, state and local health departments, community health centers and pharmacies as they stand up their vaccination operations.

Zients also highlighted the latest vaccination numbers, saying more than 222 million Americans have had at least their first shot and 70% of adults are now fully vaccinated. He also said that today the country recorded over 1.3 million shots in arms, which is up almost 20% from last Wednesday’s report.

After getting his first Covid-19 vaccine shot, 8-year-old Aren Savatli said he is excited to see his grandparents overseas.

“I can’t wait to give them a hug because I’ve been always calling them every single day. I miss them,” he said to CNN’s Brynn Gingras at a doctor’s office in New York.

His parents said they were glad the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gave the recommendation for the vaccine for kids ages 5-11.

“We trust them, and here we are here today. We waited for so long. We are very excited,” said his mom, Aysin Savatli.

After US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended the Covid-19 vaccine for young children, Texas Children’s Hospital has nearly 37,000 Covid-19 vaccine appointments booked through the week of Thanksgiving for kids ages 5-11, said Jermaine Monroe, co-chair of a Covid-19 task force for the Houston-based hospital. 

“We have seen a tremendous response over the last five days of parents scheduling appointments for their children,” Monroe added.

At one point, the hospital was averaging 120 appointments per minute, Natasha Barrett, a hospital spokesperson said. 

“We’ve not experienced anything like this,” said Monroe of the demand for vaccines. “We’ve planned for it, and we’re glad … because many people thought that there would not be high demand.” 

Families are traveling from “as far as New Braunfels, Texas” and various other areas in the state to schedule appointments and vaccinate their children at the pediatric hospital located within the Texas Medical Center, Monroe tells CNN.

In an effort to make vaccines more available to the community, Monroe said the hospital system is going to implement some new efforts.

he hospital system will go out into the community starting next week and host three events per week to provide vaccines in areas hardest hit by Covid-19.

Parents who are either unvaccinated or have only received one dose will have the opportunity to get inoculated during their child’s appointment. 

“Not only are we opening our doors, bringing vaccines into the community, but we’re also building vaccine competence in various forms—meeting people where they are, in languages that they would prefer, with people that look like them,” said Monroe. 

New York City will begin administering Covid-19 Pfizer vaccines to children between the ages of 5 and 11 at city-run vaccination sites on Thursday, Mayor Bill de Blasio said.

Additionally, beginning on Nov. 8, every school in New York City with students between the ages of 5 and 11 will offer in-school vaccinations for at least one day.

Vaccinations will be offered during school hours, and children must be accompanied by a parent or guardian at the time of vaccination, or they must give verbal consent by phone, de Blasio said.

City Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi added that they are also working with healthcare providers across the city to provide guidance, especially for families who prefer to go to their own pediatrician for a Covid-19 vaccine.

To date, 86% of adults and 78% of children between the ages of 12 and 17 in New York City have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine. At least 12,099,996 vaccine doses have been administered city-wide so far, de Blasio said.

The Federal Aviation Administration chief maintained Wednesday that vaccination rules are having “no impact” on air travel, telling senators that recent cancellations of thousands of flights at American Airlines and Southwest Airlines are unrelated.  

President Joe Biden’s strict vaccination mandates will take effect in the coming weeks for employees of federal contractors, including major airlines and federal employees, including the air traffic controllers at the FAA.   

“We don’t have any evidence,” Steve Dickson said in response to Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who said that airline and union officials linked the mandate and disruption during conversations with him. 

Dickson said a days-long meltdown of Southwest’s schedule that started on a Friday was caused by other issues.  

He said it started with “one sector within Jacksonville Center (air traffic control facility) that happened to be located with where there was convective weather and extensive military activity. So it did create a chokepoint. But it was not any kind of organized activity – it was availability on one particular shift.”  

But Cruz said he “was told by a senior leader in the aviation industry that one of the causes of it was a very significant number of air traffic controllers in Jacksonville engaged in a sickout and refusing to go to work because of the vaccine mandate.”  

Dickson said he does not believe the requirements will cause issues for the FAA workforce heading into the holiday season, and is “not hearing about any particular issues with respect to air traffic control staffing.  

“I do not expect to lose a significant part of our workforce,” Dickson said. 

Dickson said he and Transportation Department officials have repeatedly communicated the requirements to the FAA workforce. 

A 10-year-old child receives a dose of the Covid-19 vaccine in Hartford, Connecticut, on November 2.

Children ages 5 to 11 can now get a Covid-19 vaccine in the United States after CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky signed off on the recommendation late Tuesday.

That’s great news for parents, anxious to keep their kids safe, but there are many questions as well.

CNN asked CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency physician and professor of health policy and management at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health, for her advice.

What kind of side effects should kids expect?

Jennifer Herrington with her nine-year-old daughter Parson Herrington

Nine-year-old Parson Herrington got a lung transplant when she was just 11 months old, and living through the pandemic has been an exercise in extra safety measures for her, like being in quarantine and wearing masks.

She traveled 2.5 hours with her mother Jennifer to get vaccinated at Texas Children’s Hospital, the same place where she got the lung transplant.

Jennifer got emotional, saying this was a first step to begin living again.

“They are happy tears,” she said. “She’s a trooper.”

Newly-vaccinated Parson said she is looking forward to seeing family in Dallas, going to school, going to therapy, and to church.

She says she was ready to get the shot because everyone in her family had received the shot.

Sarah McIness with her 8-year-old daughter Elissa

Sarah McIness got emotional seeing her 8-year-old daughter Elissa get vaccinated Wednesday, saying that she sees the light at the end of the tunnel.

“It’s been an emotional journey,” she told CNN.

Her daughter got Covid-19 and recovered and McIness, a nursing student at Texas Women’s University, said she has feared the pandemic on all fronts.

“It’s been exhausting,” she said.

Her daughter said her arm hurt a little when she got the shot, but the pain went away.

One little girl in New York City is certainly not throwing away her shot after receiving her first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. Nine-year-old Zia Bucci told CNN’s Brynn Gingras at a doctor’s office that she is looking forward to seeing “Hamilton” on Broadway after getting fully vaccinated.

Zia’s mother, Milli, told CNN that her husband is a pilot and they had been living in Arizona but returned to New York.

Gingras reported that the doctor’s office received 600 doses for children this morning, in addition to the 300 they had on hand already. Health workers plan to go into schools later to distribute the vaccine.

Children who have been coming in for their vaccines have expressed excitement about finally being able to take off their masks on the playground and having play dates with their friends, Gingras said.

The director of US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, officially gave the green light on Covid-19 vaccines for children ages 5 to 11 Tuesday, paving the way for million of young Americans to get vaccinated.

Parents have a lot of questions: What dose are their kids getting, and how long will it take to kick in and protect their children? What side effects should they expect? What if their child is about to turn 12 – should they wait until then to get the higher dose? And what happens if the pediatrician’s office doesn’t have vaccine appointments – what other options are there to get a shot?

CNN posed these questions to CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency physician and professor of health policy and management at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health. Here’s what she said:

Should parents and families plan on kids missing school to recover from potential side effects after they get the vaccine?

Can a child get the Covid-19 vaccine the same time as another vaccine, like the flu vaccine?

What if a child has a history of food or medication allergies? Should they skip this vaccine?

Should a child who has had Covid-19 before still get vaccinated?

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said “this is really just a time for parents to celebrate.” 

“We now have vaccine that’s eligible for 28 million children between the ages of 5 to 11,” Walensky told ABC’s Good Morning America Wednesday. She said deliberations yesterday at the CDC’s Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices meeting showed the real efficacy and safety of the vaccines. 

“Importantly,” Walensky said, “we’ve taken the time to get this right, to do the science, to have a kids’ dosing schedule.” 

Asked about parents who were still hesitant to get their child vaccinated and what she would say to them, Walensky said, “what I would say to them is, you know, these are new and you may have questions and we are here to answer your questions.”

“We are now beginning to roll out, to distribute the vaccine, to give parents the information that they need,” she said. “Go talk to your pediatrician, your trusted health care provider, your pharmacist and get the information that you need as we start scaling up vaccine across this country.” 

10-year-old Cate Zeigler-Amon hangs out of the car window as she waits to receive her first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine at Viral Solutions in Decatur, Georgia, on Wednesday, November 3.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said that the US will hit the ground running on Covid-19 vaccinations for 5-to-11-year-olds. 

The vaccine for this age group will now be available in pharmacies, pediatricians offices, children’s hospitals and certain community locations, he said.

Parents who want to get their children vaccinated should consult with their pediatricians, family physicians and pharmacists, he said, so that they know exactly where to get the vaccine for their kids.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said it’s “understandable” for some parents to be hesitant about vaccinating their children, after the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gave the green light for 28 million young children to get vaccinated against Covid-19. But if his kids were ages 5-11, Fauci said he “would definitely get them vaccinated.” 

“They’re not exempt from getting sick” from Covid-19, Fauci said, and persistent “long Covid” has been seen in children as well.  

He also debunked a myth that vaccines affect fertility.

“There’s no indication whatsoever, even any mechanistic feasibility that would affect fertility at all. In fact, in the millions and millions of doses and billions of doses that have been given worldwide of the vaccine, there’s no indication whatsoever that it has anything to do with fertility,” said Fauci, chief medical adviser to President Biden. 

Fauci added that “I’m not so sure we’re going to get soon to zero spread.” 

“I don’t think we’re going to get to eradication. We’ve only eradicated one viral disease, and that’s smallpox. But you can get it down to a very low level, if you get enough people vaccinated,” he said.  

Watch: