One State Has Yet to Order COVID-19 Shots For Children Under 5

The FDA’s VRBPAC voted unanimously to recommend both Moderna and Pfizer’s COVID-19 shots for babies and toddlers. 

The committee’s endorsement places the experimental shots on the fast track to be available for the young age cohort by next week. 

However, one state has yet to pre-order COVID-19 shots for kids under five. 

49 states preordered COVID vaccines for kids under 5 so they’ll be ready as soon as there is FDA approval.

Take a guess which state did not.

— Bill Weir (@BillWeirCNN) June 15, 2022

If you guessed Florida, then you’d be correct.

The Sunshine State missed a Tuesday deadline for pre-orders of the pediatric shots for children under five, guaranteeing a delay in access.

Every state but Florida has pre-ordered COVID-19 shots for children under 5.

— DailyNoah.com (@DailyNoahNews) June 16, 2022

ICYMI: Florida has yet to request delivery of COVID-19 pediatric vaccines for children under 5, missing yesterday’s deadline for pre-orders and guaranteeing a delay in access for parents across the state, according to two U.S. government sources. https://t.co/ipm8PqibWL https://t.co/RGfvXbD6bh

— Miami Herald (@MiamiHerald) June 15, 2022

These Republican governors are demonic and complicit in the democide https://t.co/DmSp57q7Ho

— Daniel Horowitz (@RMConservative) June 15, 2022

“All other 49 states placed pre-orders, which will be delivered in two tranches beginning as early as Monday to thousands of pediatricians’ offices, children’s hospitals, pharmacies and health centers across the country. Those facilities in Florida will not have access during this time and will remain without supply until Florida places an order,” McClatchy DC reports.

Jeremy Redfern, press secretary for the Florida Department of Health, confirmed the department “chose not to participate” in the vaccination program because the state health department is not following federal public health recommendations.

“The Florida Department of Health has made it clear to the federal government that states do not need to be involved in the convoluted vaccine distribution process, especially when the federal government has a track record of developing inconsistent and unsustainable COVID-19 policies,” Redfern said.

“It is also no surprise we chose not to participate in distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine when the Department does not recommend it for all children,” Redfern said. “Doctors can order vaccines if they are in need, and there are currently no orders in the Department’s ordering system for the COVID-19 vaccine for this age group.”

Florida’s surgeon general and secretary of the state department of health, Joseph Ladapo, has long criticized vaccination requirements for adults. In March, he recommended against vaccinating healthy kids, and the News Service of Florida reported Wednesday that Ladapo would not support inoculating the state’s youngest children either — frustrating pediatricians who say the need for COVID vaccines is clear.

From today;s @GovRonDeSantis press conference: "there's not gonna be any state programs, that are gonna be trying to get COVID jabs to infants and toddlers and newborns. That's not something that we think is appropriate."

— Daniel Horowitz (@RMConservative) June 16, 2022