NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Food and Drug Administration on Friday authorized Moderna’s and Pfizer’s Covid-19 shots for children as young as 6 months old, but there are still some hurdles to clear before the shots will be available at the Reno County Health Department.
"We're waiting for that to go to the advisory committee of the CDC, which is the ACIP," director Karla Nichols said. "The ACIP, as far as I know, they are supposed to be meeting Saturday. Once the ACIP approves it, then it goes to the director of the CDC. Then, once it's signed by the director of the CDC, then it goes to KDHE. After KDHE gives us their rubber stamp, then we can start administering the vaccines."
Nichols thinks the rest of the process will go quickly, but they don't want to get ahead of it.
"We will have those," Nichols said. "Of course, they will not release those vaccines to us until we do have the approval of KDHE to start administering those vaccines. They are anticipating it will be sometime this next week when we will have that approval and be able to start administering those vaccines."
The FDA authorized Pfizer’s three-dose vaccine for children 6 months to 4 years old, and Moderna’s two-dose vaccine for children 6 months to 5 years old, but Moderna looks like it will be the one at the Health Department.
"When we were working with COVID-19 early on, administering and working with Moderna was a lot easier for us and for staff," Nichols said. "It doesn't have to have the diluent added to it. It doesn't have to have the ultra-cold storage. We want to make sure we're giving what we need to and we want to minimize any medication errors."
Which day next week the vaccine is released and appointments will be available remains to be seen, depending on how the process goes over the weekend.