The newest COVID-19 booster shots for young children are now available through Lehigh Valley Health Network. WDIY’s Sarit Laschinsky has more.
Lehigh Valley Health Network is now scheduling appointments for young children to receive the recently-authorized bivalent Pfizer booster shots at its vaccination clinics throughout the region.
In a release, LVHN said the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently authorized this booster vaccine for children as young as five, to be given at least two months after completing the primary vaccine series or getting a previous booster.
Both agencies also authorized the bivalent booster from Moderna for children as young as six, but LVHN said the Moderna booster is not provided for people under the age of 18 at its vaccination clinics.
Scheduling initial COVID-19 vaccinations or boosters is required at LVHN’s vaccination clinics in Hazleton, Pottsville, East Stroudsburg, Whitehall, and Lower Nazareth Township. Scheduling can be done through the MyLVHN patient portal, or by calling the network’s COVID-19 hotline at 833-584-6283 from Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m.
LVHN said anyone previously infected with COVID-19 may choose to wait up to three months before receiving a bivalent booster, but should be symptom-free and 10 days out from a positive COVID-19 test, at a minimum.
Dr. Alex Benjamin, LVHN’s Chief Infection Control and Prevention Officer, said in a statement that around 100 patients are still hospitalized with COVID-19 across the health network, and that the U.S. is still averaging around 300 COVID-related deaths per day.
He added that being vaccinated and boosted remains the “single biggest factor in helping prevent COVID-19 deaths.”
(Original air-date: 10/24/22)
