Rutgers to provide coronavirus vaccinations for children ages 5 to 11 by Wednesday

Rutgers will offer Pfizer vaccinations for children ages 5 to 11 at its vaccine sites as early as Wednesday in light of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) recommendation this past Tuesday, said Biomedical and Health Sciences (RBHS) Chancellor Brian L. Strom at a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) health briefing yesterday.

The Food and Drug Administration previously gave emergency use authorization to the Pfizer vaccine for children ages 5 to 11 on Oct. 29. CDC Director Rochelle P. Walensky gave the final approval for this eligibility expansion yesterday hours after the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommended the expansion, providing access to vaccination for approximately 28 million children in the U.S.

Rutgers community members who wish to schedule a vaccine appointment for their children should contact the University’s vaccine assistance program rather than using the online scheduler, which is reserved for individuals who have Rutgers NetIDs, Strom said.

“So the pediatric vaccine is now available and as a two-dose regimen given with a dose of approximately one-third of the dose given to adults,” he said. “To decrease wait time, please … don’t hesitate to schedule an appointment.”

Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences (RBHS) Senior Vice Chancellor Vicente Gracias explained the University’s recent expansion of its vaccine mandate to faculty and staff in the briefing. He said the executive order signed by President Joseph R. Biden Jr. requires that certain employees of federal contractors get vaccinated for COVID-19, and the University found that Rutgers employees fall under this category.

“We will work with everyone to try to get as many of our employees that have not yet been vaccinated fully vaccinated,” he said. “And we do understand that that immunogenicity or that best protection occurs two weeks after the second dose of a two-dose regimen or two weeks after the first dose of a Johnson & Johnson or Janssen vaccine, although we are offering certainly a second dose to that.”

Gracias said faculty and staff who are receiving the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines should have received the first Moderna dose by Oct. 27 or the first Pfizer dose by Nov. 3. Those who plan on getting the Johnson & Johnson vaccine should do so by Nov. 24 to meet the University’s vaccine mandate deadline.

Strom and Gracias also addressed the question of whether Rutgers keeps track of breakthrough cases among students who have been vaccinated. Several students previously reported experiencing difficulties getting tested for COVID-19 on campus, with some reportedly deciding to forgo testing as a result.

Gracias said he believes there have been approximately 100 to 120 breakthrough cases reported from University employees and a similar number of cases reported by Rutgers Student Health.

“Each week or two weeks, we see 10 to 20 cases at most,” Strom said. “Most of those are breakthrough cases … These are mild cases, and the vaccine is working accordingly.”