AKRON, Ohio – With emergency use authorization anticipated as soon as early next week, plans are in the works to adapt COVID-19 vaccine clinics in Summit County to administer the Pfizer vaccine to children 12 and older.
Pfizer asked the Food and Drug Administration in early April to expand use of its vaccine to children 12 to 15, after clinical trials showed the vaccine is safe and 100% effective in kids 16 and older.
The full approval process will likely take several months. The Moderna vaccine is approved for anyone 18 or older.
Akron Children’s Hospital has worked with Summit County Public Health and school districts across northeast Ohio, vaccinating teens 16 and older in a program moving through the high schools, where many kids were excited to get the shot.
“It’s going terrifically,” said Akron Children’s Chief Quality Officer Dr. Michael Bigham. “We’ve had really good engagement and the school districts have been great to work with. Our school health team is just superb, so it’s going seamlessly; really pleased about it.”
If Pfizer receives the authorization, some Summit County clinics will be expanded to accommodate the younger residents and others will be established for that purpose, officials said.
Anticipating the approval, Children’s Hospital, Summit health and the schools have been discussing a summer strategy for vaccinating the younger kids, including making the schools a “home base” for the clinics, he said.
“They’re located in the neighborhoods and communities where the children are, even if it extends into the summer, most of those districts have been willing to open their doors,” Bigham said. “All of those conversations are happening as we speak and Akron Children’s is really committed to offering that with our school health team.”
Tam Chau, 18, (left) and Saraza Byake, 18, get COVID-19 vaccinated at an Akron Children’s Hospital vaccine clinic at North High School. (Courtesy Ted Stevens, Akron Children’s Hospital)
Students already receive vaccinations at the schools through the flu-shot program, so using consent forms to vaccinate kids against COVID-19 is adequate, he said. In most cases parental presence isn’t needed.
“It may get tougher as ages get younger, where it’s less about permission and more about moral support and emotional support, and understanding their child’s needs,” Bigham said. “But we expect 12- to 15-year-olds to be willing participants and to be on board with their parents around getting their vaccine.”
Summit County Public Health operates several vaccination clinics, including the mass vaccination clinic at the fairgrounds, which has administered shots to nearly 14,000 people since it opened a month ago.
Most clinics don’t require appointments and to make the process more accessible for people, the health department is opening pop-up clinics in neighborhoods throughout the summer, said Health Commissioner Donna Skoda.
“We don’t care where you come from anymore,” Skoda said. “Second dose, or first dose; we’ll do it.”
Children’s also wants the vaccine as accessible as possible.
“We want to get to people who would like to be vaccinated and we want to make it as easy as it can be for them,” Bigham said.
Skoda said she hopes drug-makers soon receive approval for the COVID-19 vaccine for kids under 12.
“So by the fall, they say anybody six months and older can get Pfizer and then, that allows us to do families, which would be very nice,” she said.
