COVID-19 vaccine to be available for kids ages 5-11 at MS county health departments
The Mississippi State Department of Health on Friday announced that county health offices around the state will offer COVID-19 vaccinations for children ages 5-11 beginning Monday.
The expanded vaccine offering comes as the Pfizer vaccine was this week approved by the Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Mississippi State Department of Health for that age group.
“We are pleased this has finally been approved, and we recommend that all children 5 and older in Mississippi be vaccinated against COVID-19,” said MSDH State Epidemiologist Dr. Paul Byers in a press release. “If you have questions or concerns, we urge you to please talk with your pediatrician or health-care provider.”
MSDH has ordered 51,000 doses of vaccine for the age group, according to a press release, which are set to arrive at county health departments, health care providers and independent and retail pharmacies this week.
Children ages 5-11 will be vaccinated with two 10-microgram doses of the Pfizer vaccine administered 21 days apart. The dosage is one-third of the adolescent and adult dose.
Beginning at 7 p.m. Friday, slots will be open for the extended age group to make appointments. The openings are available at https://covidvaccine.umc.edu/ or through the COVID-19 hotline at 866-498-4948 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. seven days a week.
Hancock County Health Department
856 Highway 90, Bay St. Louis, MS 39520-8602
8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday–Friday
228-467-4510
Harrison County Health Department
1102 45th Avenue, Gulfport, MS 39501
8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday–Friday
228-863-1036
Jackson County Health Department
4600 Lt. Eugene J. Majure Drive, Pascagoula, MS 39581
8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday–Friday
228-762-1117
Mississippi has seen over 88,642 cases in children age 5-17 since January 2020. The majority of pediatric cases, hospitalizations and deaths occurred this summer during the Delta variant surge.
“The reason this is important is we all know … the increases in the pediatric cases that we saw in that fourth surge with the Delta variant was quite significant. We really didn’t see anything like that with the other three surges. So it really did take its toll in that age group. So this really gives us some extra protection,” Ochsner Health’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Robert Hart said Friday during a Facebook Live event.
The FDA approved the vaccine for children 12 and older in May. Currently, 53% of youths 12-18 year olds are vaccinated in Mississippi, which trails national averages of 68%. Forty-six percent of the entire state is vaccinated, lagging behind national averages of 58%.
This article and live event is supported by the Journalism and Public Information Fund, a fund of the Gulf Coast Community Foundation.
This story was originally published November 5, 2021 at 2:43 PM.
