Retailers providing updated COVID-19 bivalent vaccine to children

Following guidance from the Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, retailers, including Walgreens, Rite Aid and Bartell Drugs, are offering the updated COVID-19 bivalent vaccine to children aged 3 years old and older. 

Walgreens said the vaccine will be available at select store locations nationwide. The retailer also shared that its specially trained pharmacists have extensive experience administering vaccines to eligible populations aged 3 and older and have safely administered over 100 million vaccines over the last three years to help keep them protected. "We remain committed to providing our patients and communities access to COVID-19 services and medication, including testing, vaccination and treatment," the retailer said.

Appointments can be scheduled online, through the Walgreens app or by phone. 

[Read more: Walgreens offering flu, COVID-19 testing in single visit at over 5,000 locations]

Rite Aid locations, including Bartell Drugs in the Pacific Northwest, are now offering the Pfizer-BioNTech bivalent COVID-19 vaccine to children aged 3 years old and older. Rite Aid pharmacists are trained to administer vaccines to children aged 3 years old and older, the company said.

“Approval of the updated vaccine for our pediatric population allows us to continue to help our communities fight COVID-19,” said Karen Staniforth, chief pharmacy officer at Rite Aid. “Current data shows that this updated vaccine enhances protections against COVID-19, and we recommend parents consider keeping their children up to date with this vaccination to help prevent severe disease and outcomes.”

Parents or guardians can schedule eligible children using Rite Aid’s online scheduler here. Bartell Drugs customers can use the online scheduling tool linked here.

Appointments are based on vaccine availability. Children must be accompanied by an adult to their vaccine appointment. Customers may receive their updated vaccine dose at Rite Aid or Bartell Drugs regardless of where they received their previous doses within the primary series. The first two doses of the primary vaccination series are required for customers, if not already received.

[Read more: Roche partners with Pfizer to drive awareness, education about COVID-19 testing, treatments]

In addition to receiving their COVID-19 vaccinations, customers can schedule their flu shot, which can be received at the same time as the COVID-19 vaccine, Rite Aid said. The CDC recommends everyone six months of age and older receive a flu vaccine each season with rare exceptions.

“With cooler weather upon us and people gathering more indoors, especially around the holidays, we urge our communities to stay up-to-date on their vaccines to protect themselves and others,” said Staniforth.

According to the FDA and CDC the eligibility requirements for the Pfizer vaccine are as follows:

• Children six months through four years of age who have not yet begun their three-dose primary series of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine or have not yet received the third dose of their primary series will now receive the updated (bivalent) Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine as the third dose in their primary series following two doses of the original (monovalent) Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine.
• Children six months through four years of age who have already completed their three-dose primary series with the original (monovalent) Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine will not be eligible for a booster dose of an updated bivalent vaccine at this time. Children in this age group who already completed their primary series would still be expected to have protection against the most serious outcomes from the currently circulating omicron variant.