FL Teens Age 16, 17 Will Be Eligible For Pfizer Vaccine In April

FLORIDA — Teens ages 16 and 17 will be permitted to get a Pfizer coronavirus vaccine next month with the approval of their parents.

The Florida Department of Health said it will allow teens to receive the Pfizer vaccination when all adults age 18 and up become eligible to be vaccinated April 5 under a new order issued by Gov. Ron DeSantis Thursday.

The Pfizer-BioNTech is the only vaccine that is approved by the Food and Drug Administration for those as young as 16 years old. Both the Moderna and Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) vaccines are only approved for adults age 18 and up.

The DOH said 16- and 17-year-olds will need to have a form signed by their parents or guardians authorizing them to receive the vaccine or have a parent accompany them to the vaccination site.

Currently, there is no coronavirus vaccine available for children younger than 16 years old.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, children are not yet a priority for vaccination because most children who have contracted COVID-19 have had mild symptoms or no symptoms at all.

Children make up about 13 percent of all cases reported in the United States, but less than 3 percent of all reported hospitalizations and less than 0.21 percent of all deaths, according to the CDC.

Nevertheless, Pfizer, in partnership with Germany pharmaceutical company BioNTech, announced this week that it has begun a clinical trial testing its coronavirus vaccine on healthy children age 6 months to 11 years old. The study will determine if the vaccine can effectively create an immune response against COVID-19 and if it is safe in children 11 years to 6 months old.

This study is required before the vaccine can be approved by the FDA for children.

Doctors who treat children for illnesses that compromise their immune systems and makes them more vulnerable to coronavirus are closely watching the results of the study, which will identify the preferred dosing level for three age groups – between 6 months and 2 years old, 2 and 5 and 5 to 11 years old.

Pfizer began a vaccine trial for children age 12 to 15 years old in January and said it hopes to share details on the results soon.

“Pfizer has deep experience in advancing clinical trials of vaccines in children and infants and is committed to improving the health and well-being of children through thoughtfully designed clinical trials,” the company said in a statement.

The White House’s chief medical advisor, Dr. Anthony Fauci, told a House committee earlier this month that older children could receive coronavirus vaccines as soon as this fall and younger children early next year.

As Floridians age 50 and up became eligible to receive vaccinations this week, DeSantis announced that 70 percent of the state's 4.4 million seniors have now been vaccinated.

As of Friday, the DOH said 5.4 million people have received at least a first-dose vaccination.

The DOH also reported 5,750 new coronavirus cases and 167 deaths on Friday, the highest number of deaths since Feb. 18 when the DOH reported 224 people died.

Since the pandemic began, there have been 2,033,179 positive cases of coronavirus in the state with 33,756 deaths. The current positivity rate for Florida is 5.69 percent.

See related stories:

• How To Get The Coronavirus Vaccine In Florida
• Florida To Begin Vaccinating Residents Age 50 And Up Monday
• FL Lowers Vaccine Age Eligibility To 18 And Older As Of April 5