(Headline USA) Florida-based grocery store chain Publix revealed this week that it will not offer COVID-19 vaccines to children under the age of 5, in spite of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s attempts to force vaccines on families.
Publix said it would not offer the shots “at this time,” even after the Food and Drug Administration approved them. The chain did not offer an explanation for its decision, but it aligns with state officials’ recommendation that children under 5 not get the vaccine.
“There’s not going to be any state programs that are going to be trying to, you know, get COVID jabs to infants and toddlers and newborns,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said last week. “That’s not something that we think is appropriate, and so that’s not where we’re going to be utilizing our resources in that regard.”
Publix said it recommends that customers who want to get their young children vaccinated “speak with pediatrician’s offices, community health centers, children’s hospitals, and public health clinics for availability at this time.”
DeSantis and Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo have argued that pediatric COVID-19 vaccines are not necessary for children since children are not at risk from the virus in the first place.
“I would say we are affirmatively against the COVID vaccine for young kids,” DeSantis said. “These are the people who have zero risk of getting anything.”
However, DeSantis clarified that parents who still want to vaccinated their young children can do so.
“It’s a recommendation against doing it,” he explained. “That’s different than saying you can’t. You are free to choose; that’s not an issue.”
