Health officials approved COVID-19 vaccines for children as young as 6 months last week, but Florida-based Publix will not be offering the Moderna and Pfizer shots to children younger than 5.
A spokesperson for the supermarket, which is headquartered in Lakeland and has nearly 1,300 locations across the southeast, confirmed the news to Fox 13 Tampa Bay on Wednesday.
About two-thirds of Publix stores are in Florida, which was the only state not to preorder vaccines from the federal government in anticipation of them being approved for toddlers.
A Publix supermarket in Lake Placid, Florida. (Jeffrey Greenberg/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images / Getty Images)
While vaccines won’t be available for the youngest kids at county health departments in Florida, many private health care providers throughout the state are offering them to some children younger than 5.
A spokesperson for CVS told Fox Business that the pharmacy’s MinuteClinics are offering Pfizer’s vaccine to children 18 months through four years of age.
FDA SAYS PFIZER COVID-19 VACCINE APPEARS EFFECTIVE FOR CHILDREN UNDER 5
Walgreens told Fox 13 Tampa Bay that children ages 3 and older could get the vaccine at locations in Florida and the rest of the country.
Publix’s media relations office did not respond to multiple phone calls and emails about their policy on Wednesday.
Pharmacist Kaitlin Harring, left, administers a Moderna COVID-19 vaccination to three year-old Fletcher Pack, while he sits on the lap of his mother, McKenzie Pack, at Walgreens pharmacy Monday, June 20, 2022, in Lexington, S.C. | AP Newsroom
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President Biden visited a vaccination clinic in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday where children younger than 5 were receiving shots for the first time.
“The United States is now the first country in the world to offer safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines for children as young as six months old,” Biden said Tuesday. “In the first time in our fight against this pandemic, nearly every American can now have access to lifesaving vaccines.”
