Vaccines Now Available For Kids Ages 5 to 11 In Montgomery County

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD — Kids ages 5 to 11 will now be able to get the COVID-19 vaccine, as the CDC approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children on Tuesday and Montgomery County announced a schedule for rolling it out.

On Nov. 4 from 4 to 6 p.m., kids in that age group can be vaccinated at county-run clinics. Vaccines will also be available in pharmacies, through private physicians, and at stores such as Giant and Safeway, the county said. Starting Friday there will be child-designated vaccine clinics at county-run clinics on weekdays from 4 to 8 p.m. at the county-run clinics. There will also be vaccine clinics at schools on Saturdays and Sundays.

Appointments will be required and can be made after 6 p.m. on Wednesday, here.

“Having full approval to vaccinate kids from five to eleven is a game changer in our fight against COVID-19,” said County Executive Marc Elrich in a statement. “Our focus now will be to get shots in the arms of as many kids as possible in an equitable way. Our success over the last year has been grounded in making sure that we made the vaccine available to people in our most vulnerable communities and we will keep that same focus as we vaccinate our young children. Yesterday’s approval now gives us the ability to ensure that our communities and County are safer and keep our children in school and learning.”

James Bridgers, the acting health officer for Montgomery County, said that there won't be enough doses for all of the eligible children right away, and asked for patience from parents.

“We know that many parents have been anxiously awaiting the approval of the COVID-19 vaccine for younger children,” said Bridgers in the announcement. “Because vaccine delivery amount will take some time to ramp up, parents are urged to be patient, as there will not be enough supply initially to vaccinate all eligible children immediately."

Montgomery County said it has received 14,000 doses from the Maryland Department of Health. The county said there are an estimated 100,000 children between the ages of 5 and 11 living in Montgomery County.

“Over the past recent weeks, we have worked diligently to prepare an infrastructure to meet the demand for the newly approved pediatric COVID vaccine. As more doses become available, we will aim to ensure that areas that have been hit hardest by COVID-19 are factored into the vaccine distribution process, so we have an equitable and effective roll-out,” said Bridgers.