Clyburn Urges DeSantis to Join All Other States in Ordering Coronavirus Vaccines for Young Children

Washington, D.C. (June 17, 2022) – Today, Rep. James E. Clyburn, Chairman of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, sent a letter to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis urging him to reverse his decision not to order coronavirus vaccines for young children in his state, as all other 49 states have done, or to provide a staff briefing by June 30 explaining the state's rationale. This morning, the Food and Drug Administration granted Emergency Use Authorizations for the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines for children under five, making vaccines available for this age group for the first time. The coronavirus has resulted in the deaths of 442 children under five nationwide.

The letter by the Chairman reads in part:

"The Biden Administration has already laid the groundwork for the distribution and administration of doses to ensure that parents who choose to vaccinate their children can do so as soon as possible. A key element of this plan is the cooperation of state governments in ordering vaccines for distribution to medical providers in their states. Orders have been placed by 49 states—every state but Florida. As a result of your refusal to participate, Florida parents who wish to vaccinate their children may be forced to wait even longer, and their children could be left without the protection these vaccines provide. I am writing to request the reversal of or an explanation for this seemingly inexplicable decision.

"Your public justifications have heightened my concern. You declared that you are ‘affirmatively against the Covid vaccine for young kids' because, in your view, they ‘have zero risk of getting anything.' Yet although the coronavirus poses less risk to young children than to older Americans, the risks are significantly above zero. To date, over 2,600 American children under five have been hospitalized with the coronavirus, and 442 have died from the disease. Even mild coronavirus infections can cause serious long-term effects for children, such as multisystem inflammatory syndrome—a rare but potentially deadly inflammatory disorder—and long COVID, which can cause severe fatigue, cognitive difficulties, muscle and joint pain, and other symptoms that persist for months. The two vaccines authorized by FDA have been shown to be extremely safe and highly effective against the coronavirus in clinical trials.

"Yet because of your deliberate inaction, pediatricians and family doctors across Florida are currently unable to order doses for their youngest patients—meaning that they will not be able to administer the shots to this newly eligible age group. Although federal vaccination sites such as federal pharmacy partners and some federally qualified health centers can order vaccines directly from the federal government, these sites may be inaccessible to many families and may exclude children under three from being vaccinated. Your decision to reject these vaccines could deny Florida parents the ability to make their own decisions on what is best for the health of their children—and could deny some Florida children the ability to live long and healthy lives."

If the Governor's refusal to order vaccines for Florida children continues, the letter requests a staff briefing by June 30, 2022.

Click here to read the letter in full.