Photo courtesy of UAB University Relations
UAB Medicine today (Thursday, Nov. 11) will begin offering free COVID-19 vaccines for children ages 5-11 at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium and the UAB Injection Clinic, the health care organization said.
The Hoover Met vaccination site is a drive-through site that is open Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 5508 Stadium Trace Parkway. The UAB Injection Clinic is in at The Kirklin Clinic in Birmingham at 539 Richard Arrington Jr. Blvd. S. in the old Regions Bank space and offers the vaccine inside the clinic Monday-Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
UAB Medicine encourages people to make appointments at both the Hoover Met and the Injection Clinic. People can make those appointments at uabmedicinevaccine.org or by calling 205-975-1881 for assistance.
Patients under the age of 19 must have parental or guardian consent forms signed on site.
While children are much less likely than adults to have problems from a COVID-19 infection, COVID is still the 10th leading cause of pediatric deaths, according the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
The ACIP reported last week that children ages 5-11 have experienced 1.9 million cases of COVID-19 and 8,300 hospitalizations in the United States. Of those, 2,316 have had multisystem inflammatory syndrome, a condition where different body parts become inflamed, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes, or gastrointestinal organs. Also, 94 of those children have died, according to the committee.
Dr. David Kimberlin, co-director of the UAB Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, said in a news release that it’s important for children to get vaccinated, too, not just to reduce the amount of COVID-19 cases.
“Because of this virus, school is interrupted, which means learning is interrupted,” Kimberlin said. “Lives are disrupted, which means families must make difficult decisions that they shouldn’t have to make. Vaccination is the key to eliminating the interruptions and making sure our children are in school receiving the social and emotional development they need.”
Similar to what was seen in adult vaccine trials, vaccination was nearly 91 percent effective in preventing COVID-19 among children aged 5-11 years. In clinical trials, vaccine side effects were mild, self-limiting, and similar to those seen in adults and with other vaccines recommended for children. The most common side effect was a sore arm.
Learn more about what the CDC has to say about COVID-19 vaccinations for children and teens here.
