PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, Md. — Prince George’s County will begin accepting kids ages 12-15 at their vaccine-a-thon in Landover starting at 6 p.m. Friday
The event runs until midnight, with kids allowed at 6, and the minors will need to be accompanied by a parent or guardian. A consent form needs to be signed by the child's accompanying parent/guardian.
Residents are encouraged to book appointments in advance and those who pre-register will be eligible for raffle prizes. Walks-ups are also being accepted until 11:30 p.m. The clinic will close at midnight.
Entertainers will be on-site Friday to cheer on residents who are getting vaccinated, including Super Bowl Champion and author Kyle Arrington.
U.S. health advisers endorsed the use of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine in kids as young as 12 on Wednesday. Then, the first-in-the-world campaign to inoculate children against the virus kicked off in the country on Thursday, with clinics across our region offering vaccinations to children between 12 and 15 for the first time.
The CDC is hoping to vaccinate millions of children to help return the country to normal.
Clinics across D.C., Virginia, and Maryland are offering both walk-up and pre-scheduled vaccinations. The FDA says the vaccine is safe and extraordinarily effective in children, and the American Academy of Pediatrics is recommending it for all children 12 and older as soon as possible.
Children 17 and younger made up 18% of the nation's COVID cases last month.
"While we're fortunate that children aren't as seriously affected as adults on average, there's a lot of disease that's still going on, and serious disease that does affect kids," Dr. Susan Coffin of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia said.
But not all pediatricians are in favor of the push to vaccinate kids. Some say the world’s limited vaccine supply should be focused on protecting the most vulnerable adults in places like India where the virus is raging.
"The [children's] real risk is that variants come out from everywhere else and end up resulting in a much weaker impact of the vaccines, even in the U.S.," Dr. Richard Malley of Harvard Medical School said.