The push to get vaccinated has been a top priority for the Biden Administration. Now that millions of adults have receive the vaccine, the White House is working on plans to start distributing it to children.
Approval
In the coming weeks, federal agencies are expected to approve the Covid-19 vaccine to children ages 5-11. There are roughly 28 million American children included in this age range. Dr. Fauci has stated his belief that if the majority of the 28 million are vaccinated, it would make a significant impact on reducing the spread of the virus.
The push to get adults vaccinated has been largely successful. However, they make up only a small percentage of the population. While 190 million adults have been vaccinated, that number drops significantly for children over the age of 12. Despite having an approved vaccine for that age range, only 66 million have received the jab.
Vaccination Mandates
The Biden Administration has made it very clear they expect all federal employees (and furthermore all Americans) to get vaccinated. How does they plan to encourage/enforce people to follow through with getting the vaccine? An article written for aljazeera.com states, “Biden has announced plans to use an array of executive orders and rule-changes to require workers at hospitals that receive federal reimbursements and federal contractors to receive the jab, as well as a change to Occupational Safety and Health Administration policy to require private-sector companies with more than 100 employees to require workers to be vaccinated.” Deadlines will also be used. The White House has put a deadline in place for the majority of employees to get vaccinated. Failure to do so could result in termination or forced unpaid leave. Will children be required to get the jab in order to remain in public school? Time will tell what lengths the current Administration will go to ensure children are vaccinated.
Distribution to Children
The Biden Administration has made vaccines free and highly accessible. As far as distribution and availability, it’s extremely likely that the vaccine rollout for children will look similar to the adult rollout. There will be hundreds of thousands of locations where you’ll be able to take your children in order to get the vaccine. Pediatrician offices, local pharmacies and possibly even schools are a couple of the places you can go. Once the majority of children have received the jab, how will they proceed with distributing the vaccine moving forward? Will the Covid shot be added to the list of required vaccinations for kids to attend school? The above mentioned article goes on to say, “Any future mandates related to children would likely be enacted by schools and would be left to local and state authorities.”
Upon approval of the vaccine for children, the White House will have its work cut out for them to get it effectively distributed. However, because this isn’t their first rodeo, the rollout should run smoothly.