Charles City pharmacies prepare for pediatric COVID-19 vaccinations

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

With the green light from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and its director on Tuesday to allow COVID-19 vaccination of children age 5 to 11, area health care providers are gearing up to make the shots available, including a clinic planned at a local elementary school.

“The pediatric Pfizer vaccine will be available at both Main Street Drug and Hy-Vee,” said Gail Arjes, administrator of Floyd County Public Health. “Public Health at this time is not going to be doing pediatric clinics.”

Arjes said 300 pediatric doses have been allocated to both Main Street Drug and the Hy-Vee pharmacy in Charles City, and should be arriving soon.

Cynthia Uetz, owner and pharmacist at Main St. Drug, said she expected her first doses of the pediatric vaccine to arrive today (Friday) or early next week. People will be able to make appointments and fill out paperwork on the business website, www.mainstreetdrugcc.com, or can just walk in.

Uetz said she would post on the store’s Facebook page and probably put a sign in front of the store announcing when the pediatric vaccines are available. In addition to the initial shipment of doses though Floyd County Public Health, she will be able to order pediatric doses from her usual suppliers as needed.

Uetz said she will also be offering a pediatric vaccine clinic with the Charles City School District next week, on Friday, Nov. 12, at Lincoln Elementary School, from 3:45 to 5:30 p.m.

Justin DeVore, director of communications for the school district, said there will be a signup for the clinic on the school website, charlescityschools.org. They will also send information to parents by text and email.

“We’re offering it as a volunteer opportunity for any parents that want it,” he said, saying the familiar location will help make it easy and convenient for parents who choose to vaccinate their young children.

A parent will need to accompany children to the clinic to grant permission for their child or children to be vaccinated, he said.

DeVore said he suspects that some parents who are very eager to get their children vaccinated may choose to do so sooner than the clinic through their own medical providers or pharmacies.

Hy-Vee pharmacies will be administering the vaccine to children age 5-11 by appointment only as the kid-size doses become available, said Christina Gayman, the company spokesperson. The pediatric vaccine is available at a limited number of Hy-Vee pharmacies now, she said.

A person at the Hy-Vee pharmacy in Charles City said that location did not yet have the pediatric vaccines Thursday, and the best option was to keep checking with the company website, www.hy-vee.com/covidvaccine, for appointment availabilities.

Children need to be accompanied by a parent or guardian for both the first and second dose at Hy-Vee pharmacies, but prescriptions are not needed.

Hy-Vee said the dose size for children age 5 to 12 is smaller than for older children and adults, so it’s important to signify the correct age when making a vaccination appointment online.

Hy-Vee has also been offering the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to persons as young as age 12 since earlier this year when that group was approved.

Just as with all the brands of adult doses and the Pfizer doses for adolescents, the pediatric COVID-19 Pfizer vaccines are free to the recipients, being paid for by the federal government.

Pfizer said it expects to make 19,000 shipments totaling about 11 million pediatric doses in the coming days, and millions more will be available to order on a weekly basis.

In a press release issued Wednesday, the Iowa Department of Public Health said more than 26,000 doses of the state’s initial 99,000 pediatric dose allotment were already in the state, with the rest expected to arrive by Thursday.

“If vaccines are not immediately available in all Iowa communities, please remain patient as providers wait for their supply,” the IDPH said. “CDC has assured states that pediatric vaccine supply is adequate, and states are able to order more doses when needed.”

The Iowa department said it estimates there are 284,000 Iowans age 5 to 11.

“Iowans with questions about the pediatric COVID-19 vaccine should speak with their child’s health care provider,” the IDPH said.

The Pfizer pediatric vaccine — currently the only brand in the United States authorized for persons under the age of 18 — requires two doses spaced at least three weeks apart. Full protection is assumed two weeks after the second dose.

That means children who get vaccinated before Thanksgiving can be covered by Christmas, which some health officials said should provide a measure of relief to families planning holiday events and get togethers.

Currently the single dose Johnson & Johnson (Janssen) vaccine and the Moderna vaccine are authorized only for persons age 18 and older.

The pediatric vaccines are delivered with kid-sized needles and are one-third the amount of the vaccine that adults receive — not just because kids are smaller than adults, but because their immune systems are more responsive and take less vaccine to develop appropriate antibodies.

The Iowa Department of Public Health said that COVID-19 vaccines can be administered without regard to the timing of other vaccines, meaning they can be administered along with other childhood immunizations as well as along with the flu vaccine.

A Pfizer study of 2,268 children found the vaccine was almost 91% effective at preventing symptomatic COVID-19 infections. The FDA examined 3,100 vaccinated kids in concluding the shots are safe.

Floyd County Public Health’s Arjes said the county remains pretty steady at about a 10% positivity rate, meaning 10% of all the people tested for COVID-19 return a positive result.

“We know that the virus is still out there. We know that it’s the Delta variant that we’re seeing in Floyd County, from some of the typing that’s been done, so we know that’s primarily what we have,” she said.

“What we’re seeing so far is our positive cases really have not been in children. It’s mainly those middle-aged is what we’re seeing,” she said.

Asked what it would take to really get ahead of the virus, Arjes said, “That’s a great question.”

“We want people to be vaccinated and to convince those that are unvaccinated to get vaccinated,” she said. “It’s been a challenge. Yes, we’re seeing some people who have been vaccinated turn positive, but the majority of the people we’re seeing that are being hospitalized are still unvaccinated.”

Arjes said the vaccine won’t completely prevent people from catching COVID-19, but it is highly effective at preventing people from becoming seriously ill to the point that they need to be hospitalized, so it also reduces the strain on health care facilities.

“People want a choice. They don’t want to feel that they’re being forced to get it. That’s the biggest thing that we’ve heard,” Arjes said.

“And they’re not being forced. That’s what I tell them. We’re not forcing you to get it. We want you to do your research and decide for yourself — but the research is there that it does prevent that severe illness.”

Asked what other advice she had, Arjes said, “It’s that same thing — stay home if you’re sick. Get your flu shot, too. You can get your flu shot and your COVID shot at the same time. We encourage everyone to get their flu shot.

“Wash your hands and maintain that distance the best you can from others. If you’re having symptoms and you have to go out, wear a mask. We encourage mask use,” she said.