Illinois is expecting an initial allotment of about 500,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine for kids ages 5 to 11, once the shots are authorized for that group — with pediatricians and schools expected to play a big role in the vaccine administration, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Monday.
More than 2,200 locations and providers statewide have signed up to offer the shots to children ages 5 to 11, including more than 700 pediatric and family practices, more than 700 pharmacy locations, about 100 urgent care locations, 112 local health departments and public health clinics, among others.
A U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory committee is expected to meet Tuesday to discuss authorization of the Pfizer vaccine for kids ages 5 to 11. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory committee is then scheduled to meet Nov. 2 and 3 to consider it — meaning kids could start getting shots as early as next week.
Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike, who also is a mother and a board certified pediatrician, said offering a variety of avenues for younger children to receive the vaccine will be key to the effort.
“We’re really trying to create all these different options for different parents who are at different stages of being comfortable with the idea,” Ezike said during a news conference Monday.
She urged all parents to vaccinate their children, for their own protection and to help protect other vulnerable people in their families and communities. For the first time this pandemic, there were more COVID-19 cases confirmed in kids ages 5 to 11 than those 12 to 17, and there were more cases in the younger age group during the last surge than there were during the fall 2020 surge.
“Unfortunately, we have lost some young people to this virus, and some young people have been hospitalized,” Ezike said. “Definitely not many, but any is too much when there is a vaccine that can prevent that illness, that severe illness, hospitalization or worse.”
Many Illinois pediatricians hope that offering the shots in their offices will make the vaccination process easier for skittish children.
Heather Izewski holds her daughter Madison Arizamendi, 12, of Northbrook, who receives her second Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine from medical assistant Alejandra Flores at Yacktman Outpatient Center in Park Ridge on Oct. 22, 2021. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
“Giving a vaccine to a kid is very different from giving a vaccine to a teenager who can sit still and understand, yes, it’s going to hurt briefly, but I need you to stay calm and not move,” said Dr. Hollis Redmon, a pediatrician at Advocate Children’s Medical Group Naperville. “Hopefully children react a little better because they’re in a slightly more familiar environment than if they were to be taken to a large gym.”
Part of the reason pediatricians will be able to give the shots is because the vaccine may be easier to handle, logistically, than those for adults. The children’s Pfizer vaccine is formulated differently than the one for adults. Kids will receive one-third the dose that adults received, and the children’s doses will be available in smaller packages. The new formulation can also be stored for longer in a regular freezer — 10 weeks versus 31 days for the current one.
Also, some pediatricians have been offering the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in their offices to kids ages 12 and older in recent months, giving them the experience necessary to roll out shots quickly for younger kids, doctors say.
Dr. Akanksha Hanna’s pediatric office, Advocate Medical Group Yacktman Pediatrics in Park Ridge, has vaccinated about 200 kids ages 12 and older since early August.
Her office expects to allow younger patients to schedule their shots, take them into private rooms for the vaccinations and then have them wait there with their parents for 15 minutes afterward in case of reactions.
“I think most families I’ve been speaking with are so excited to have it in the office,” Hanna said. “If you’ve ever taken your kids some place they didn’t expect to go, and they’re also supposed to get something unpleasant done, I think they’d much rather be in a more familiar setting.”
Also, she added, pediatricians’ offices are accustomed to giving shots to young children every day.
“Vaccinations, quite honestly, it’s what pediatricians do,” she said.
Redmon has seen children fling themselves on the floor, try to run away or attempt to bargain when they know a needle is coming, said the Advocate Naperville pediatrician.
“Do (medical assistants) get kicked on a regular basis? Yes,” Redmon said. “Are they still able to keep their hands steady with that injection? Yes.”
Still, she cautions that children’s fear of shots shouldn’t deter parents from getting them vaccinated.
“I always say, ‘These vaccines hurt you more than they hurt your child,’ ” Redmon said. “It’s that quick pain for potentially long-lasting safety.”
University of Chicago Medicine Comer Children’s Hospital hopes to begin giving kids ages 5 to 11 the vaccine the weekend of Nov. 6, in a clinic at the hospital, as well as at community clinics and several of its primary care sites the following week, depending on how quickly the vaccines ship, said Dr. Daniel Johnson, chief of pediatric infectious diseases at Comer.
Advocate Children’s Hospital’s nearly 100 pediatricians will likely begin giving the vaccines to children ages 5 to 11 shortly after they’re approved, said Dr. Frank Belmonte, chief medical officer. Advocate hopes to expand in-office vaccinations to many of its 400 affiliated pediatricians soon as well, he said.
Loyola Medicine hopes to begin administering the vaccine to kids in its pediatric and COVID-19 clinics within a few days of the CDC committee’s decision, said Dr. Neil Gupta, chief medical officer for Loyola Medical Group, in a news release.
Children will also have many other options, besides pediatricians, for receiving the shots.
Children’s hospitals, pediatricians and local health departments expect to work with schools to offer vaccination clinics for kids at schools, outside of regular school hours. The state health department is overseeing outreach to 756 elementary school districts to host vaccination clinics on school grounds, the governor’s office said.
Heather Izewski helps her daughter Madison Arizamendi, 12, of Northbrook, with a "I Got Mine" sticker after Madison received her second Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at Yacktman Outpatient Center in Park Ridge on Oct. 22, 2021. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
And, in Illinois, pharmacies are allowed to vaccinate children ages 3 and older.
Representatives of Walgreens and CVS Health say they plan to start vaccinating younger kids once the vaccines are authorized, with Walgreens saying in a statement its “team members have extensive experience vaccinating children and adolescents.”
“I think there’s going to be a lot of motivation for families to get their children vaccinated quickly, and if they’re able to get it done as a walk-in to a neighborhood, commercial pharmacy late at night or on a weekend, the convenience of that may outweigh a parent’s desire to go to their pediatrician’s office,” said Dr. Larry Kociolek, medical director of infection prevention and control at Lurie Children’s Hospital.
Lurie plans to begin giving the shots to kids at its main hospital shortly after they’re authorized, as well as work with schools and community groups to set up other clinics. Some of Lurie Children’s partner pediatric practices will also likely offer the vaccine to younger kids, but smaller practices may face challenges doing so, such as not having the staff or infrastructure to ramp up quickly, Kociolek said.
Parent Kristin Hawksworth, of Orland Park, has called her pediatrician’s office a couple of times to see if they’ve opened up appointments. But she said she’ll take her 11-year-old daughter Ruby wherever she can get in first, whether that be her pediatrician’s office, a pharmacy or a community clinic.
Her daughter doesn’t love shots, but she can handle it, especially knowing how important this one is, she said.
Ruby is the last member of their five-person family who is unvaccinated. Though Hawksworth, her husband and their two older children are vaccinated, they’ve been careful in recent months in hopes of protecting Ruby. They’ve avoided travel and aren’t eating indoors at restaurants.
“We’ve just been watching and waiting,” Hawksworth said. “She’s excited for this one because I think she knows what it changes, just for our family.”
Ezike said she believes the numbers of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations will continue to drop as children get vaccinated.
Cases and hospitalizations have been on the downswing statewide since the summer surge, driven by the highly contagious delta variant peaked in early September.
State health officials on Monday reported 1,565 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19, bringing the average number of daily cases over the past week to 2,110. That’s down from a late-summer peak of 4,440 daily cases during the week ending Sept. 4.
While the Pfizer vaccine has been authorized for people 16 and older since December and became available to kids 12 and older in May, vaccinations have lagged among kids when compared with adults.
As of Monday, 52.4% of Illinois residents ages 12 to 17 had been fully vaccinated, compared with 67.7% of people 18 and older, according to state and federal data.
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