'Risks Outweigh Benefits': FL Won't Preorder Toddler COVID-19 Vaccines

FLORIDA — Gov. Ron DeSantis is defending the state's decision to not preorder COVID-19 vaccines for children younger than 5.

Florida is the only state in the country not to order fresh doses of the vaccine directly from the federal government following the Food and Drug Administration's announcement Wednesday that Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are safe for kids in that age bracket.

"Our department of health has been very clear, the risks outweigh the benefits and we recommend against it. That's not the same as banning it. People can access it if they want to," DeSantis said.

On Friday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized emergency use of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccine for the prevention of COVID-19 in children as young as 6 months of age.

“Many parents, caregivers and clinicians have been waiting for a vaccine for younger children and this action will help protect those down to 6 months of age. As we have seen with older age groups, we expect that the vaccines for younger children will provide protection from the most severe outcomes of COVID-19, such as hospitalization and death,” FDA Commissioner Robert M. Califf, M.D. said in a news release.

DeSantis said Thursday during a news conference in south Florida that the state would not facilitate distribution of the vaccine, but they will still be available to those who want them.

"Doctors can get it, hospitals can get it, but there is not going to be any state program that is going to be trying to get COVID jabs to infants and toddlers and newborns. That's not something we think is appropriate. So that's not where we are going to be utilizing our resources in that regard," the governor said.

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• COVID Vaccines Should Be Given To FL Kids Under 5: FDA Advisers

"To do an emergency use for a 6-month-old or a 1-year-old simply to placate anxiety, that's not the standard when you're doing this," DeSantis added. "The standard is: 'Is this something safe and effective?' And then very importantly, for recommendations, 'Does the benefit outweigh the risk?'"

In Florida, 187,307 children under the age of 5 have tested positive for COVID-19 since the state started collecting data in March 2020.

DeSantis said the Florida Department of Health Department issued guidance stating that healthy children from ages 5 to 17 may not benefit from receiving the currently available COVID-19 vaccines.

Florida health officials currently recommend that only children with underlying conditions are the best candidates for the COVID-19 vaccine.

That advice, however, contradicts the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which so far has recommended the vaccines for everyone 5 years and older, saying the shots provide strong protection against hospitalization and death, the AP said.

In Florida, pharmacies and several supermarket chains, plus some community health centers, can preorder vaccines directly from the federal government. Other venues such as hospitals have previously benefited from states preordering of shots. However, they can also order them directly from the federal government via a Florida government web portal and receive the doses within days or a week, said health department spokesman Jeremy Redfern.

Preordering the shots would mean the Florida health department would stockpile them, ship them to county-level health departments and then out to the hospitals, Redfern said. Hospitals that use the portal will receive the shots directly from the federal government, he said.

“The timing doesn't necessarily change" in a significant way, Redfern told the AP. “This just cuts out the middleman.”

Dr. Michelle Kirwan, a chief medical officer and pediatrician at the Center for Family and Child Enrichment in the suburb of Miami Gardens, said the center gets its supply directly through a federal program.

But she said she was concerned that the state not facilitating the program might confuse parents. She also said some children in this age group may be at a higher risk and their families do not know it yet.

“I think it adds to the anxiety, which leads to indecision and delays,” Dr. Kirwan said. “They will say ‘Who do I listen to?’ Is this going to harm my baby?’ They are between a rock and a hard place.”

The Associated Press contributed to this article.