The New York State Department of Health (DOH) has issued guidance on vaccinating children ages 5 to 11 with the two-dose pediatric formulation of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. The guidance addresses ordering vaccine, vaccine providers’ responsibilities, and redistribution and includes additional information on vaccine safety and side effects. The DOH also issued the attached guidance for providers administering the pediatric formulation of the vaccine to children ages 5 to11 to complete the screening checklist (attached) prior to administering the vaccine.
To support vaccination of the new age group, New York Governor Kathy Hochul today announced the launch of a website for parents and guardians of children ages 5 to 11, which includes information on the vaccine, FAQs, and other resources.
DOH encourages all vaccine providers to opt into the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) online VaccineFinder tool for each of their vaccination sites. DOH will report statewide inventory to the CDC every Monday through Friday for each organization. Therefore, sites do not need to report inventory to VaccineFinder but should maintain up-to-date information on the immunization registries.