PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island expects to open eligibility for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to 12- to 15-year-olds today, once state health officials have updated the consent forms and the state’s vaccination website.
By 9:30 a.m., several appointment dates on the state’s vaccine appointment website were already updated with the expanded age range.
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“We are going to effectively move forward today,” said Tricia Washburn, chief of the RIDOH Office of Immunization.
The state’s COVID-19 Vaccine Subcommittee had agreed several weeks ago to open up that eligibility to younger Rhode Islanders once the U.S. Food & Drug Administration approved the vaccine for the age group.
That emergency approval from the federal administration came Monday afternoon.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is scheduled to discuss this age group expansion on Wednesday, but using guidance released Tuesday from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Rhode Island is prepared to offer the vaccine appointments as soon as Tuesday.
The expansion will open up eligibility to 48,305 adolescents in Rhode Island, through outlets including retail pharmacies, the mass-vaccination centers and through clinics operated in community schools. Parents or guardians are required to sign the release form, but do not have to attend the vaccination with their child, although the state is recommending they do so.
Appointments for the Pfizer vaccine will be available at the state’s website at www.vaccinateri.org.
The R.I. Department of Health is working closely with the clinics at schools, where students aged 16-18 have already been eligible to receive the vaccine, Washburn said.
Pediatricians and other primary care physicians soon will be able to administer the vaccines as well. The state reported on Tuesday that 16 primary care offices have signed up as part of a program to allow primary care physicians and pediatricians to administer the COVID-19 vaccine. Those offices should start receiving first doses by next week, Washburn reported.
Mary MacDonald is a staff writer for the PBN. Contact her at macdonald@pbn.com.
