Palm Beach County Pharmacies, Pediatricians Beginning To Accept Appointments
BY: STAFF REPORT | BocaNewsNow.com
UPDATE: 6 a.m. Wednesday, November 3, 2021: Appointments are now available at CVS and Walgreens. Walgreens appointments start Saturday. CVS is now Sunday. Availability may increase during the day. Interested parents/guardians are encouraged to check both websites throughout the day.
UPDATE: 8:51 p.m: Websites for CVS, Walgreens, Publix and others are not yet updated to reflect the authorization.
BOCA RATON, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) (Copyright © 2021 MetroDesk Media, LLC) — The CDC Tuesday night approved the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 5-11. The CDC sign-off was the final step needed for the vaccine program to “go live.”
As BocaNewsNow.com reported several days ago, CVS expects to lead the pack with availability in Palm Beach County starting almost immediately. Vaccine appointments must be made online. The process is the same as it is for adults. There are several questions that must be answered and insurance information — if you have it — should be provided. A list of stores with availability will populate. Two appointments must be chosen. A legal guardian must be with the child at the time of inoculation.
Walgreens, while likely to also accept appointments, was non-committal when its media representatives were asked by BocaNewsNow.com for expected availability in South Florida. Check Walgreens.com for the latest.
Publix, which has been flakey at best lately for pharmacy and shot administration, has never provided shots to young children. It was not immediately clear if Publix will provide COVID-19 vaccines to the 5-11 age group.
While many local pediatricians are accepting appointments for their existing patients, many are not, saying they do not have the capacity to refrigerate mass quantities of vaccine, or the manpower to handle what could be hundreds or even thousands of young children in a very short period of time.
The Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine is 1/3rd the dose of an adult’s dose. The Moderna vaccine for children is on hold, pending further analysis by the FDA and CDC.
