Philadelphia begins vaccinating kids ages 5-11

Kids ages 5 to 11 in Philadelphia can now receive the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine after kid-sized doses cleared two final hurdles Tuesday.

PHILADELPHIA - Kids ages 5 to 11 in Philadelphia can now receive the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.

The Philadelphia Department of Public Health has instructed all COVID-19 vaccine providers to begin administering the free vaccine as they receive it.

Kid-sized doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine cleared two final hurdles Tuesday — a recommendation from CDC advisers, followed by a green light from Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"I have been waiting for this day for months and months; we can finally vaccinate our children!" said Acting Health Commissioner Dr. Cheryl Bettigole. "We know that as more people in Philadelphia get vaccinated against COVID-19, we all become safer. I cannot recommend strongly enough that every child who is eligible to be vaccinated do so as soon as possible. People often ask me how we can get back to normal, I believe that getting children vaccinated is a big step in that direction."

Jin Long Lam was the first to show up Wednesday for the grand opening of the Dr. Ala Stanford Center for Health Equity to get the kid-size dose of the vaccine.

"I wanted to feel safe," he said.

After school, his 7-year-old sister got vaccinated. Their parents both home health aides have been vaccinated for a while.

"We were so happy, you know we’ve been waiting for a long time," their mom, Nary Hor, said.

While some city-run clinics will start vaccinating ages 5 through 11 Thursday, it may take a few days for pharmacies, pediatric offices and other health centers

"People should not have trouble getting the vaccine certainly by early next week," Bettigole said.