Beaufort hospital to offer Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for kids 5 to 11. Where else has shots?
Beaufort Memorial Hospital has received 900 pediatric doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine and will begin to offer the shots to children ages 5 to 11 starting next Wednesday.
The shots will be administered at the hospital’s Port Royal Medical Pavilion, 1680 Ribaut Road.
The medical center’s vaccine clinic will be open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Wednesdays and Thursdays during the two weeks before Thanksgiving. Hospital officials hope the extended hours will better accommodate parents of newly eligible school-age children.
Appointments are required at the clinic. You can make one online at www.BeaufortMemorial.org/vaxPR. You also can schedule an appointment by emailing vaccine@bmhsc.org or calling (843) 522-7219.
“We know many parents are eager to have their younger children vaccinated,” hospital CEO Russell Baxley wrote in a news release. “We hope these schedule changes will make it more convenient for them to do so.”
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration late last week authorized the pediatric version of Pfizer’s vaccine for emergency use. The dosage for young kids is 10 micrograms per shot, while people 12 or older have a dosage of 30 micrograms per shot.
The recent eligibility expansion for Pfizer’s two-dose vaccine comes at a critical juncture in the Lowcountry’s battle against COVID-19. The region’s infection rate has plummeted since September following a devastating summer surge of cases, which was driven by the super-contagious delta variant.
But winter is approaching, and cases dropped throughout the fall last year before spiking again in December.
Vaccinating children ages 5 to 11 “as soon as possible” will protect them during the 2021 holidays, said Dr. Jane Kelly, assistant state epidemiologist, during a Wednesday briefing with reporters.
Nationally, Kelly said, more than 8,000 kids in the 5- to 11-year-old age group have been hospitalized with COVID-19 during the pandemic, and 94 have died.
There have been roughly 56,400 cases among the age group in South Carolina, Kelly added.
“We encourage parents who have questions to seek valid, factual information from their child’s pediatrician or from their own doctor,” Kelly said. “Please don’t let social media debates, self-proclaimed experts (and) unfounded online resources influence this important decision.”
The federal government has told DHEC that South Carolina will receive 152,100 pediatric doses this week. But there are over 436,000 kids in the state who fall into the 5- to 11-year-old age group, according to DHEC.
Earlier this year, the Lowcountry’s vaccine supply shifted dramatically from week to week, forcing hospitals to cancel hundreds or even thousands of appointments, leading to widespread confusion and frustration among residents as the demand for shots outstripped local allocations.
Kelly, though, told The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette that the state now has “plenty” of pediatric doses, and more will be delivered next week.
“We’re not in that same situation of vaccine shortages,” Kelly said. “We’re not anticipating the complications with people having to be on a waiting list or having to somehow stratify which group goes first in terms of who has priority for getting vaccinated.”
More than 250 providers around the state this week are receiving Pfizer’s vaccine for young kids, Kelly said.
Where else are appointments available?
The newspapers earlier this week asked DHEC for a list of providers in Beaufort and Jasper counties that are getting shipments of pediatric doses.
Spokesman Derrek Asberry in a Wednesday statement wrote that the agency was working to create a public list of all pediatric vaccination sites for its Vaccine Locator web page.
You can find that tool online at: bit.ly/VaxLocator
“To schedule an appointment now for a 5-11-year-old, please contact the location where your child normally receives their shots,” Asberry wrote.
The Vaccine Locator, as of Thursday morning, listed some local health care facilities as having pediatric doses, including Beaufort Memorial Hospital and the Beaufort Health Department.
You can book appointments at the health department online at: bit.ly/DHECScheduler
A spokeswoman for Hilton Head Regional Healthcare, which includes Hilton Head and Coastal Carolina hospitals, confirmed that the two medical centers will not be receiving or administering the pediatric doses.
This story was originally published November 4, 2021 at 11:32 AM.
