The White House told the governors of all 50 U.S. States in a phone call Tuesday that they should prepare to begin distributing COVID-19 vaccines to elementary schoolchildren as soon as early November.
The Biden Administration told the governors that it had some 28 million doses ready to be distributed to children between ages 5 and 11, as reported by ABC News.
The administration has purchased some 65 million doses in preparation for the vaccine to receive emergency use approval (EUA) from the Federal Food & Drug Administration for children between the ages of 5 and 11. The pediatric version of the shot is about a third the dosage of the adult version. Once the vaccine receives the EUA, it will be distributed in batches of 100 doses to physicians, hospitals, pharmacies, clinics, and in some states, directly to schools. It will be distributed to students for free through the same program used for adult vaccination.
“We’ve secured plenty of supply, and we’ll be putting in place an allocation, ordering and distribution system similar to what we’ve used for the other vaccines,” White House COVID coordinator Jeff Zients said on the call with state governors.