Jersey Shore UMC Gives First Kids' COVID Vaccine Shots

NEPTUNE, NJ — On Thursday, Jersey Shore University Medical Center was the first hospital in the Hackensack Meridian Health system to give out the Pfizer COVID vaccine for children.

On Tuesday of this week the CDC approved the Pfizer vaccine for children ages 5 to 11. The CDC strongly recommends that all children in that age group get the COVID vaccine.

Approximately 25 children were vaccinated Thursday at K. Hovnanian Children's Hospital, said a hospital spokesman. All of them were either children of Hackensack Meridian doctors, nurses or other hospital employees. The event was not open to members of the public.

Jersey Shore University Medical Center will formally open childhood vaccination clinics on site at the hospital next Tuesday, Nov. 9. Going forward, children 5 to 11 can be vaccinated from 2-6 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays at the Neptune hospital. No appointment is needed.

"Jersey Shore," as its known among locals, is the largest hospital on the Jersey Shore, and the area's only trauma unit.

The CDC said it wants to see all of America's 28 million children in this age group get the shot.

Since the pandemic first began, about 8,300 kids ages 5-11 have been hospitalized with COVID and 791 children died from COVID, including 172 children ages 5 to 11, according to the CDC and this NPR article.

"The spread of the Delta variant resulted in a surge of COVID-19 cases in children throughout the summer," said CDC Director Rochelle Walensky in this statement approving the vaccine. "During a six-week period in late June to mid-August, COVID-19 hospitalizations among children and adolescents increased fivefold."

The Pfizer vaccine is 91 percent effective in preventing serious illness from COVID in children, said Dr. Walensky.

In clinical trials, vaccine side effects were mild and similar to those seen in adults and other vaccines recommended for children. The most common side effect was a sore arm, said the CDC.

Across the country, expect childhood vaccination efforts to really step up starting Nov. 8, when the Pfizer shot for children will be be made available en masse at thousands of pediatricians nationwide, pharmacies, state-run vaccine sites and more.

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