Loyola Medicine Offers Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine for Children Ages 5 to 11
November 28, 2021
Categories: Pediatrics
Tags: Pediatrics
MAYWOOD, IL – Loyola Medicine is now offering the COVID-19 vaccine to children ages 5 to 11 at multiple clinic sites, including mobile vaccine clinics. The Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine was authorized for emergency use for children ages 5 to 11. It is a two-dose series taken three weeks apart. Each dose will be 1/3 the dosage of the adolescent/adult vaccine.
Loyola Medicine is distributing COVID-19 vaccines to new and existing patients. Online scheduling is available at loyolamedicine.org/vaccines. Pediatrics department chairperson Jerold Stirling, MD, reminds parents that as families prepare to gather for the holidays, "Vaccination is important not only for children. A good percentage of children are asymptomatic while infected with COVID-19 and run high risk of spreading it."
Loyola Medicine has been vaccinating children ages 12 and up since May of 2021, and health system leaders and physicians are confident that the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine is safe for patients. As of October 2021, more than 11.1 million adolescents have been vaccinated against COVID-19 with the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. The vaccine for children ages 5 to 11 was 90 – 100% effective in clinical trials and works against Delta and other known variants.
Loyola is also committed to delivering the vaccine in underserved communities across Chicago and west Suburban Cook County. Loyola Medicine’s pediatric mobile unit, which is funded through generous donations, will be visiting area schools to distribute the vaccine starting with Roswell B. Mason Elementary school in North Lawndale on Thursday, November 18. Julie O'Keefe, MD, said, "Minority communities have been hit so hard by COVID, especially Black and Latinx communities, which have also experienced high levels of vaccine hesitance."
In addition, Loyola's Community Health and Well-being team will be setting up mobile vaccine clinics at schools, local Catholic parishes and other community-centered events to provide education and information to families about getting vaccinated. They will be at St. Eulalia in Maywood on Tuesday, November 23 to distribute vaccines for children and adults during the parish's annual turkey distribution.
To request a visit from a Loyola Medicine COVID-19 mobile vaccination clinic, please apply here.
Video of the Loyola Medicine pediatric mobile unit and stills of a mobile vaccination clinic at this Dropbox link.
For more information on COVID-19 vaccines at Loyola Medicine, visit COVID-19 page.
About Loyola Medicine
Loyola Medicine, a member of Trinity Health, is a nationally ranked academic, quaternary care system based in Chicago's western suburbs. The three-hospital system includes Loyola University Medical Center (LUMC), Gottlieb Memorial Hospital, MacNeal Hospital, as well as convenient locations offering primary care, specialty care and immediate care services from nearly 2,000 physicians throughout Cook, Will and DuPage counties. LUMC is a 547-licensed-bed hospital in Maywood that includes the William G. and Mary A. Ryan Center for Heart & Vascular Medicine, the Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center, the John L. Keeley, MD, Emergency Department, a Level 1 trauma center, Illinois's largest burn center, the Nancy W. Knowles Orthopaedic Institute, a certified comprehensive stroke center, transplant center and a children’s hospital. Having delivered compassionate care for over 50 years, Loyola also trains the next generation of caregivers through its academic affiliation with Loyola University Chicago’s Stritch School of Medicine and Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing.
For more information, visit loyolamedicine.org. You can also follow Loyola Medicine on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram or X (formerly known as Twitter).
About Trinity Health
Trinity Health is one of the largest not-for-profit, faith-based health care systems in the nation. It is a family of 127,000 colleagues and more than 38,300 physicians and clinicians caring for diverse communities across 26 states. Nationally recognized for care and experience, the Trinity Health system includes 93 hospitals, 107 continuing care locations, the second largest PACE program in the country, 142 urgent care locations and many other health and well-being services. In fiscal year 2024, the Livonia, Michigan-based health system invested $1.3 billion in its communities in the form of charity care and other community benefit programs. For more information, visit us at www.trinity-health.org, or follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and X (formerly known as Twitter).