cdc.gov/coronavirus

Planning for COVID-19 Vaccines for 5–11-Year-Old 

Children

Kevin Chatham-Stephens, MD, MPH

Pediatric Vaccine Planning and 

Implementation Lead 

CDC Vaccine Task Force

ACIP Meeting

11/02/2021
Pediatric Vaccination Implementation Goals

 Enable access to and availability of vaccine providers where populations 

are most likely to seek vaccination (reach the most)

 Establish programming to ensure access to vaccine for vulnerable and 

underserved pediatric populations (hard to reach)

 Minimize delays between FDA1 authorization of pediatric vaccines and 

initial rollout of pediatric administration

 Disseminate timely clinical guidance to jurisdictions and providers

1US Food and Drug Administration
Approach for Reaching Children

Category Approach

Providers serving children 

aged 5-11 years and primary 

care

• Utilize primary care clinics, health departments, 

Federally Qualified Health Centers, etc. as trusted 

providers to vaccinate their patients

Pharmacies • Leverage broad pharmacy footprint to vaccinate 

children aged 5–11 years

School-located vaccination 

clinics

• Provide guidance on school districts partnering with 

health departments, pharmacies, and other pediatric 

providers to hold school-located vaccine clinics to 

expand access and promote equity

Augment existing public health infrastructure
Approach for Reaching Children

Category Approach

Children’s hospitals

• >100 children’s hospitals across the United States 

will set up vaccination sites

• Critical part of efforts to provide access for children 

aged 5-11 years with underlying medical conditions

Temporary community clinics

• Leverage experience with adult and adolescent 

community vaccination clinics to complement other 

vaccine locations

Augment existing public health infrastructure
Jurisdictions’ Plans to Use Different COVID-19 

Vaccination Providers

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Other

Pharmacists

Temporary vaccination clinics co-located at

schools

Temporary vaccination clinics in the

community

VFC enrolled providers

Large pediatric providers

Number of Jurisdictions

N=58**

95%

of jurisdictions reported VFC* enrolled 

providers would be providing COVID-19 

vaccination to children under age 12 years

86%

of jurisdictions reported large pediatric 

providers would be providing COVID-19 

vaccination to children under age 12 years

83%

of jurisdictions reported pharmacists

would be providing COVID-19 

vaccination to children aged <12 years

72%

of jurisdictions reported school colocated vaccination clinics would be 

providing COVID-19 vaccination to 

children under age 12 years

* Vaccines for Children Program

** Survey sent to 64 state and local health departments in late September. Responses are not mutually exclusive.
Where Jurisdictions Anticipate Most Children Will Be 

Vaccinated*

31

22 22

16

9

6

4 4

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Pediatric

providers

FQHCs/RHCs** Health

department

Pharmacies Children's

hospital

School-located

vaccine clinics

Temporary

community

clinics

Other

Number of jurisdictions 

Setting

* Number of jurisdictions that ranked a setting or provider first or second from a list of 8 settings or providers

** FQHC = Federally Qualified Health Center; RHC = Rural health clinic
Parents’ Preferred Location to Vaccinate Their 5–11-Year-Old 

Children*

62.8%

34.3%

30.3%

25.4%

24.8%

18.8%

15.9%

14.8%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Regular doctor’s office or clinic

Local pharmacy

Another doctor’s office or clinic

School with parent present

Indoor vaccine clinic

Outdoor vaccine clinic

None of these

School without parent present

% of respondents who selected location

*Unpublished CDC/RAND/University of Iowa data. 1,028 parents surveyed in late September/early October
CDC Support of Jurisdictional Readiness

 2 jurisdictional readiness surveys 

 Dissemination of planning resources:

• Operational Planning Guide —

https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid19/downloads/Pediatric-Planning-Guide.pdf

• Preliminary information on Pfizer-BioNTech 

COVID-19 vaccines —

https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid19/downloads/Pfizer-Pediatric-ReferencePlanning.pdf

https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/planning/children.html
CDC Support of Jurisdictional Readiness 

 Guidance on, and support of, 

school districts partnering with 

pharmacies to conduct schoollocated vaccination clinics

 Listening sessions with public 

health, clinical, and other 

partners

https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/planning/school-locatedclinics/how-schools-can-support.html
For more information, contact CDC

1-800-CDC-INFO (232-4636)

TTY: 1-888-232-6348 www.cdc.gov

The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the 

official position of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.