Officials in Prince George’s County, Maryland, say mobile vaccination clinics will travel to 37 elementary schools over the next month and half to administer after-school COVID-19 vaccines to children age 5 to 11.
The list of mobile clinics at elementary schools published Friday are an extension of the clinics previously announced being offered at 15 county high schools.
The traveling vaccine clinics will begin Nov. 8, making their first stops at Judge Sylvania W. Woods Elementary School in Glenarden and at Laurel High School, Gwynn Park High School in Brandywine and Charles Herbert Flowers High School in Springdale.
The county announced the schedule of elementary mobile clinics in a news release Friday, just a few days after federal health authorities gave the OK for the shots for young children, and amid expected high demand among parents around the D.C. region for vaccines.
In neighboring Montgomery County, Maryland, appointments for the first of a series of weekend clinics at county middle schools quickly filled up, the county health department said on Twitter Friday afternoon.
The full schedule for the Prince George’s County mobile clinics is online. Appointments can be made online, but walk-ins will also be accepted, the county said.
While Pfizer’s special kid-sized doses are the only vaccine approved for youngsters, the Prince George’s County mobile clinics will also have Moderna and Johnson & Johnson doses available for any parents or older siblings who need a shot.
In addition to the roving school clinics, the vaccine clinic run by the Prince George’s County health department at the Wayne K. Curry Sports and Learning Complex, which began administering shots Friday, has extended its hours on Fridays and Saturdays.
On Mondays and Wednesdays, the complex’s hours are 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. On Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, the clinic is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. On Fridays, the hours are 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and on Sundays, the hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Walk-ins at the complex are accepted, but appointments are encouraged.
Montgomery County also offers three county-run sites where young children can be vaccinated: The East County Recreation Center, the Montgomery College Germantown campus and the Silver Spring Civic Building.
Appointments for 5- to 11-year-olds run from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Details are available online.
In addition, Montgomery County, through a partnership with their school system and Holy Cross Health, is offering separate weekend vaccine clinics specifically for children age 5 to 11 at 12 middle school “cluster” sites across the county.
This weekend, the county planned to run clinics at six sites on Saturday and six sites on Sunday, and was requiring appointments to manage the process given the expected high demand.
But Friday afternoon, Montgomery County said all the weekend appointments at the school-based vaccination sites had been snagged, the health department tweeted.
In addition to local health departments, thousands of pediatric coronavirus vaccine doses are being distributed directly to pediatricians and pharmacies.
In D.C., there are plans to host several pop-up clinics at elementary schools over the next few weeks.
