Pender County Health Department now offering Pediatric COVID-19 vaccine to children, ages 5-11

BURGAW – Pender County Health Department is now providing COVID-19 vaccine to children, ages 5-11.

“Children are now eligible to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine,” said Carolyn Moser, Pender County Health and Human Services Director.

Pfizer pediatric vaccine for ages 5-11 years is available Monday through Friday, 8 -11 a.m. and 1-4 p.m. at the health department in Burgaw, 803 S. Walker St., and the Hampstead Annex, 15060 US Hwy 17, Hampstead.

The CDC recommends all children between these ages get the vaccine to protect against serious illness. The FDA has authorized emergency use of a lower dose of the vaccine to be administered to children in this age group. The Pfizer COVID-19 pediatric vaccine is the only authorized vaccine to be administered to children ages 5-11 at this time.

More than 3,000 children ages 5 to 11 participated in the trials. This is comparable to the number included in many similar clinical trials with children. Children were given two doses, and each dose was one-third the amount of the dose given to people 12 and older. Doses were given 21 days apart. No cases of myocarditis (a heart muscle inflammation, very rarely seen in some adults taking the vaccine), were seen in children 5 to 11 in the clinical trials.

For more details, call the health department at 910-259-1230.