A grocery chain based out of Florida, Publix put forth a statement issuing a hard line concerning the dosing of children under five with the COVID vaccine, stating that their pharmacies would not give the shots to any children under the age of five, a choice seemingly in opposition with the recently instated Emergency Use Authorizations (EUAs).
As stated in a recent report that was put out on Wednesday evening by the Tampa Bay Times, Hannah Herring, a spokesperson for Publix, claimed that the grocery chain would not be allowing COVID vaccines to be given to kids four years old and under, and went on to state that the company would not be making a statement with any sort of explanation.
Good. #COVIDHearings https://t.co/1WZxD7hJTk
— Chip Roy (@chiproytx) June 22, 2022
Back when the first vaccine rollouts took place in late 2020 and early 2021, Publix made sure to partner up with the state government of Florida in order to maximize the overall efficiency of the vaccine distribution efforts, and their pharmacy still offers the COVID vaccine to any of its customers who over the age of five.
This most recent stance from Publix seems to line up perfectly with the most recent position taken by Governor Ros DeSantis (R-FL) when the EUAs for kids under first was originally put in place. Despite DeSantis not actually banning private health care providers from ordering doses of the vaccine for small kids, as quite a few have attempted to report, he also did not even authorize the state and local health departments to give out the vaccine to any kids under five.
Joseph Ladapo, the Surgeon General of Florida, even attempted to throw share at the White House for attempting to suggest that DeSantis had banned private providers from getting doses, going on to state, “FL never ‘reversed course.’ We recommended against COVID-19 vax for healthy children in March b/c there was no strong evidence of benefit. This remains the same for healthy kids <5. Providers have always been able to order vaccines. This never changed.”
FL never "reversed course." We recommended against COVID-19 vax for healthy children in March b/c there was no strong evidence of benefit. This remains the same for healthy kids <5. Providers have always been able to order vaccines. This never changed.
Nice try, @WhiteHouse.
— Joseph A. Ladapo, MD, PhD (@FLSurgeonGen) June 17, 2022
In the same vein, Christina Pushaw, the Press Secretary for DeSantis, also shoved back the most prominent narrative, highlighting that the only reason a few providers could be experiencing difficulties with attempting to order vaccine doses was the fact that they were not able to place an order prior to the Emergency Use Authorization being put in place.
“No state policy change in Florida. The only thing that’s changed was the federal government (FDA) issued the EUA for the shots today. Obviously, there must be FDA approval or an EUA for the system to process orders from healthcare providers. Retract your lies,” Pushaw stated.
No state policy change in Florida. The only thing that’s changed was the federal government (FDA) issued the EUA for the shots today.
Obviously, there must be FDA approval or an EUA for the system to process orders from healthcare providers.
Retract your lies.
— Christina Pushaw 🐊 🇺🇸 (@ChristinaPushaw) June 17, 2022