The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) announced it would start offering the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to students ages 5 to 11 as soon as Nov. 8.

The Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) endorsed and recommended the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5 to 11 on Tuesday, with the Food and Drug Administration authorizing it for emergency use, just last week.

“With the recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s approval of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for 5- to 11-year-old children, we are delighted to be able to offer voluntary vaccine access to students in this age group,” LAUSD said in a statement. “The COVID-19 vaccine is highly encouraged for children ages 5-11. However, it will not be part of Los Angeles Unified’s current student vaccine requirement.”

LAUSD anticipates starting student vaccinations on Nov. 8 through its mobile clinics and will have school-based clinics offering the vaccine on Nov. 16.

L.A. Public Health said it was “prepared” to vaccinate children in that age group, with the county receiving its first set of doses Tuesday and an expectation of receiving 300,000 doses by end of week.

Public Health said it may start vaccinating children in that age group as soon as Wednesday or Thursday.

Public Health said it does not “anticipate scarcity, and expects there will be ample vaccine to meet demand.”

After the CDC made its recommendation, U.S. President Joe Biden said the country would have enough doses to vaccinate every eligible child.

“It will allow parents to end months of anxious worrying about their kids, and reduce the extent to which children spread the virus to others.,” Biden wrote in a statement. “It is a major step forward for our nation in our fight to defeat the virus.”

 

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