It was the first day the vaccine was available to the age group, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommending Pfizer’s pediatric vaccine Tuesday night. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has also recommended the vaccine.
Ohio has 367,500 pediatric doses either already in the state or on its way, DeWine said. Parents and guardians can contact their child’s health care provider or visit https://gettheshot.coronavirus.ohio.gov/ to schedule a vaccine appointment.
For the first week, the federal government required vaccine providers to order at least 300 doses of the pediatric vaccine, DeWine said. As a result, some providers may have waited to order it. The minimum order will drop to 100 doses and the state’s local health departments will break shipments down to 50 doses to distribute to providers, the governor said.
With vaccine eligibility expanding, children ages 5 to 11 are also able to sign up for the state’s Vax-2-School program. Ohio is awarding 150 scholarships worth $10,000 and five $100,000 scholarships to Ohio colleges or universities or technical education to residents ages 5 to 25 who have received at least one dose of the COVID vaccine. To register, visit https://ohiovax2school.com/.
As of Thursday, nearly 6.5 million Ohioans have started the COVID-19 vaccine, according to ODH. More than 55.5% of residents have received at least one dose, including 67.06% of adults, 64.96% of those 12 and older and 59.08% of those 5 and older.
More than 6.06 million, or 51.9%, residents have finished the vaccine. Nearly 62.75% of adults, 60.66% of those 12 and older and 55.16% of those 5 and older.
DeWine noted that in recent days the state is averaging about 5,000 people a day starting the COVID-19 vaccine. On Wednesday, that number was slightly higher at 7,226, according to ODH.
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