News Release
Nov.3, 2021
The Texas Department of State
Health Services has instructed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
to ship Pfizer’s pediatric COVID-19 vaccine to over 900 providers in 155 Texas
counties over the next week. The CDC will deliver 1,010,700 doses of the
vaccine to Texas vaccine providers and 349,200 doses will be delivered to
pharmacies in the federal pharmacy program to vaccinate children between the
ages of 5 and 11. More than 400,000 doses of vaccine have already arrived with 162,000
expected to arrive today, and delivery of the full amount will continue through
the next week.
“Vaccinating children between the
ages of 5 and 11 helps to protect all Texans from COVID-19,” said Dr. John
Hellerstedt, DSHS commissioner. “Twenty-two Texas children between the ages of
5 and 11 have died from complications of COVID-19 and 118 have been diagnosed
with Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome
in Children. The
pediatric vaccine will further help reduce the spread of disease and prevent
the rare but serious complications of COVID-19 in this age group.”
The Food and Drug Administration issued
an emergency use authorization for the pediatric vaccine on Friday, and vaccine
started arriving in Texas on Monday. The CDC issued its clinical guidance for
providers today. A list of providers receiving the pediatric vaccine is
available at the Pediatric
Vaccine Provider Allocation List.
The pediatric vaccine comes in a
different formulation from the vaccine approved for adults, so it is important
to seek out providers who have received the pediatric vaccine when getting
children in this age group vaccinated. Most vaccine shipments are expected to
arrive in the next week, and DSHS recommends making an appointment or checking
with the provider before going to get vaccinated.
There are approximately 2.9 million
children ages 5 to 11 in Texas.
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(News Media Contact: pressofficer@dshs.texas.gov)