While most major pharmacy chains give Covid vaccines from the age of 3, some are not. For example, Publix and Kroger offer shots from the age of 5.
CVS offers Covid shots to children as young as 18 months in stores that house their MinuteClinic locations, but sets the minimum age at 5 for other stores.
It was not clear Thursday why some pharmacies set their age limits where they were. Erin Rolfes, a Kroger spokeswoman, declined to comment on why the pharmacies set 5 as the lower limit. Publix did not respond to messages requesting comment. A CVS spokeswoman, Amy Thibault, said only that the chain used pharmacists, pharmacy trainees and pharmacy technicians to give injections to children 5 years and older.
Mitchel Rothholz, who leads the immunization advocacy practice at the American Pharmacists Association, said all pharmacists are trained to administer vaccines to children 3 years and older, but some may prefer to undergo additional training before taking vaccines. children younger than that start working.
“Whether the practice does it or not is based on their comfort level and the availability of resources,” he said.
Even if your pharmacy of choice doesn’t offer injections to your eligible child, the pharmacist there can point you in the right direction. “I always encourage parents and carers to talk to the pharmacy or contact their pediatrician,” said Mr. Rothholz.
When asked about the policy of many pharmacies to vaccinate children 3 years and older on Thursday, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that “a lot of this could be related to the PREP law, as well as the ability of pharmacies to handle younger children.”
She also pointed to what she described as “parents’ willingness to potentially take their younger children to where they are routinely vaccinated, be it their local health center or their local pediatrician.”
Some parents have already encountered obstacles.
Kelly Jensen, of Woodstock, Illinois, said she made at least 10 phone calls early this week trying to find a vaccine for her 14-month-old daughter. Many larger pharmacies don’t give the injection to young children, and Ms Jensen said her pediatrician didn’t offer the vaccine to young children either, due to declining interest.
“What’s so frustrating is that I couldn’t find any information,” said Ms. Jensen, 37. “I felt like I was going crazy trying to find something.”
Other types of clinics might be a better option for many parents, but some parents have turned to social media groups and grassroots networks to find pharmacies to accommodate their children.
A group of volunteers called Vaccinate Under 5 has created a national database of pharmacies and providers who administer the vaccine to young children. The map, populated by online submissions from parents and doctors, was in use with appointments for children under the age of 5, the group said.
“We didn’t want to take any more hurdles when parents have already been through so much,” the group said in a statement. “As parents, we waited months for the choice to vaccinate and provide them with the same basic immunity that other ages have had access to for months.”
On Tuesday, Ms Jensen drove to a doctor’s office 30 minutes from her home, where she was told the vaccine was not available, as she had been informed. A day later, the office called her to let her know that the vaccine was in stock. She ran there.
“I had my child during a pandemic,” Ms Jensen said. “She’s over a year old now in a pandemic, and to finally have some kind of help for her poor little system is like, now it feels like maybe we could have a normal, normal childhood for her.”
Here are the policies for some major pharmacy chains:
