ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — The St. Louis County Department of Public Health has pushed back its start date to vaccinate children ages 5-11 with the newly cleared child-sized Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. On Friday afternoon, the county announced there was a delay in the delivery of doses.
County leaders had planned to start vaccinations on Monday at its three permanent clinics. That's on hold now until another shipment of the child-sized vaccines comes in, which the county expects to get early next week. Four library branches were also slated to start administering the vaccine next week.
St. Louis County did get 300 doses of the kid-sized vaccine this week. Those are going to a clinic on Saturday, but appointments are full at this time and they are not accepting walk-in patients.
The department of health will announce when it does get another shipment of the vaccines for children ages 5-11 and will reopen appointments on the ReviveSTL website. The county says the state of Missouri controls the supply of the COVID-19 vaccine.
County health leaders also warned parents to not make an adult appointment for kids under 12 as the doses are different for younger kids and are not interchangeable.
More on children vaccines:
- Urban League working to overcome vaccine hesitancy as national poll shows parents unsure about COVID shot
- List: Places offering COVID-19 vaccine for children in the 5-11 age group
- SLPS urges students to get vaccinated as former employees protest for vaccine alternatives
- CVS, Walgreens, Walmart open COVID vaccine appointments for kids under 12
- Kids 5-11 can get COVID vaccine as CDC gives final clearance