Children’s National Hospital in D.C. has established a waitlist for children ages 12 and up as the U.S. waits for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to issue an emergency use authorization for the vaccine in children.
The waitlist is for those who live in D.C. or Prince George’s County, Maryland.
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has been conducting clinical trials on the vaccine’s effects on children, and the company expects to receive the needed authorization in the next few weeks. It will also seek approval for use in children between 2 and 11 years old as early as September.
Currently, no vaccine has been granted full approval by the FDA for any age range, instead receiving emergency use authorizations.
In anticipation of the vaccine’s authorization, Children’s National has launched a page where parents can help their children sign up for the wait list to receive the Pfizer vaccine. The page stresses that the hospital is currently only vaccinating patients between 16 and 22 years old, but that eligibility criteria could soon change.
Since March 3, Children’s National has administered more than 3,600 first doses of the COVID vaccine to people 16-22 years old.
Roberta DeBiasi, chief of the pediatrics division at Children’s National, said the hospital is preparing for the vaccine to get authorized in the next two weeks.
“We’re going to be distributing the vaccine at Children’s … for residents of D.C. and Prince George’s County — we’re limited to those two jurisdictions so far, we hope this will expand over time,” DeBiasi said. “We are taking preregistration, so you can contact Children’s hospital … and as soon as this is approved, we’ll contact you with an appointment.”
She said the hospital has set up the preregistration page in the hopes of getting the vaccine distributed quickly once authorization is given.
To get on the waitlist, children and their parents can visit Children’s National’s webpage for more details and information on signing up.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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