Walmart, Sam's Club to begin offering youth vaccinations

Following recommendation by the Federal Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control, Walmart and Sam’s Club pharmacy locations will be extending its vaccine supply to children ages 12 to 15, company officials announced Friday.

“This is great news, not just for the newly eligible cohort, but for the entire country,” said Dr. Chinni Pulluru, Walmart’s senior director for clinical innovation, transformation and operations. “The Pfizer vaccine is 95% effective in all ages — even better for those age 12-15 — at preventing symptomatic COVID-19.

“That means for every vaccinated adolescent, their risk of severe COVID-19 decreases — making it easier for schools to safely resume in-person teaching, creating the possibility for safe summer camps and outdoor extracurricular activities and giving parents one less thing to worry about.”

U.S. health advisers endorsed use of Pfizer’s covid-19 vaccine in kids as young as 12 on Wednesday, just as expected new guidelines say it’s OK for people of any age to get the shot at the same time as other needed vaccinations.

“We are recommending it for kids for a number of reasons,” Dr. Joseph Aracri, chair of Allegheny Health Network’s pediatric institute, told the Tribune-Review. “The most important thing is looking at the risk-benefit ratio. The risk is very minimal when it comes to the vaccine. The benefit — even though we know most kids don’t get severely sick with covid, there have been some deaths associated with covid, and severe illness as well. The additional benefit is keeping covid low in the community so we can keep schools open.”

Parents and adolescents can use the company’s digital appointment scheduler at Walmart.com/COVIDvaccine or Samsclub.com/covid to find an available Pfizer vaccine in your community. Users can filter by vaccine manufacturer — in this case Pfizer — and the website will show nearby locations administering the vaccine.