Health officials approved COVID-19 vaccines for children as young as 6 months last week, but Florida-based Publix will not be offering the Moderna and Pfizer shots to children younger than 5.
A spokesperson for the supermarket, which is headquartered in Lakeland and has nearly 1,300 locations across the southeast, confirmed the news to Fox 13 Tampa Bay on Wednesday.
About two-thirds of Publix stores are in Florida, which was the only state not to preorder vaccines from the federal government in anticipation of them being approved for toddlers. While vaccines won’t be available for the youngest kids at county health departments in Florida, many private health care providers throughout the state are offering them to some children younger than 5.