A: Your child’s clinician, health departments, pharmacies, and grocery stores are all possible options-but the ages <5 each site serves varies.
TL; DR: Check with the person your child normally sees for medical care first. If they are not offering COVID-19 vaccines for kids <5, your local health department, pharmacy, or grocery store may be an option. Search vaccines.gov to find the location nearest to you!
If your child’s pediatrician or other clinician they see regularly for medical care is not offering COVID-19 vaccines for this age group (or your child doesn’t have someone they see regularly for medical care), a great resource to find other locations offering COVID-19 vaccines (and flu shots too!) near you is the website vaccines.gov!
Visit the website and:
Enter your zip code, the age group for which you are looking for COVID-19 vaccines, and the brand you prefer, then you will get a list of locations offering those brands for the age group specified, that are nearest to you,
The age groups served by each specific location will either be listed, or you may need to call to confirm that information (probably a good idea anyway),
You may be able to access a given location’s on-line scheduling system directly via a link included in the listing, or you can call the phone number provided to make an appointment.
Some of the other options you may see listed for kids <5 are:
Public health departments; some may be offering COVID-19 vaccines for kids *6 months and up*, at community sites or clinics,
CVS pharmacies; those that have a “Minute Clinic” inside their store are able to offer COVID-19 vaccines for kids *18 months and up* by appointment,
Other pharmacies; chains such as Walgreens, Rite Aid, and others are offering COVID-19 vaccines for kids *3 years and up* by appointment,
Grocery stores; chains such as Wegmans, Walmart, Costco and others are offering COVID-19 vaccines for kids *3 years and up* (others such as Kroger and Safeway are only offering them for kids 5 years and up).
If your <5 year old kids are already vaxxed, let us know where you were able to get an appointment in the comments!
For more info on locations where kids <5 may be able to get a COVID-19 vaccine click here.
For more info on why kids need COVID-19 vaccines see our past posts here and here.
