Children 12 years of age and older now eligible for Pfizer vaccine as UK variant reaches Sheridan County

In a statement to the media on May 12, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Rochelle P. Walensky, MD, MPH, authorized the use of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 12 to 15 years of age. 

On May 13, Sheridan Memorial Hospital began to schedule vaccine appointments for the younger age group. 

“Today, I adopted CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’ (ACIP) recommendation that endorsed the safety and effectiveness of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine and its use in 12- through 15-year-old adolescents. CDC now recommends that this vaccine be used among this population, and providers may begin vaccinating them right away,” Walensky said in the statement May 12. 

According to SMH Director of Lean Transformation Dr. Lekan Ajayi, children who have received any other vaccinations in the past two weeks must wait until the 14 day window has passed to receive the COVID-19 vaccination. 

Parents or legal guardians must be present with the child during the process according to Sheridan Memorial Chief Medical Officer Dr. John Addlesperger. 

According to Walensky, though most children with COVID-19 have mild or no symptoms, some children can get severely ill and require hospitalization. There have also been rare, tragic cases of children dying from COVID-19 and its effects, including multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children.

Sheridan County Public Health identified a positive case of the “UK variant,” or B.1.1.7 COVID-19 in the county. In April, the “California”  variant was found in Sheridan County but until now, the UK variant had yet to be detected. 

The UK variant was first found in Wyoming back in January. According to the Wyoming Department of Health, Dr. Alexia Harrist, state health officer and state epidemiologist with WDH, said the department was not surprised and expected the variant would be found in Wyoming at some point.

In a release from January, Harrist noted the UK variant does not appear to cause illnesses to be more serious. “But a variant spreading more easily between people means the number of infections could grow causing more illnesses, hospitalizations and deaths,” she said. “That’s something no one wants.”

According to Addlesperger, the vaccines work just as effectively in protecting against either of the variants.

To schedule your child for a Pfizer vaccine, click here.