Publix, the Florida-based grocery chain, came down firmly against giving the Covid-19 vaccine to children under the age of 5.
Spokesperson Hannah Herring told the Tampa Bay Times that Publix, which has more than 1,200 stores in the southeastern U.S., will not offer the vaccine to young children “at this time” and would not explain its reason for the decision.
Good decision. Following the data.
— Christina Pushaw ?? ???? (@ChristinaPushaw) June 22, 2022
Publix won’t give COVID vaccine to children under 5 https://t.co/DEEjjwEMs6
God Bless @Publix. https://t.co/lBRZ7lyo4K
— Sebastian Gorka DrG (@SebGorka) June 23, 2022
Good for @Publix. Well done. https://t.co/aAs9hXVIn4
— Ned Ryun (@nedryun) June 22, 2022
The move comes as Gov. Ron DeSantis said state and local health departments would not be ordering vaccines for this age group, though private healthcare providers could.
In March, Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo recommended against giving the Covid-19 vaccines to healthy children because “there was no strong evidence of benefit,” going against guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Ladapo said the same was true for kids under 5.
FL never "reversed course." We recommended against COVID-19 vax for healthy children in March b/c there was no strong evidence of benefit. This remains the same for healthy kids <5. Providers have always been able to order vaccines. This never changed.
— Joseph A. Ladapo, MD, PhD (@FLSurgeonGen) June 17, 2022
Nice try, @WhiteHouse.
DeSantis Press Secretary Christina Pushaw also called out the narrative that the governor reversed course on his decision.
No state policy change in Florida. The only thing that’s changed was the federal government (FDA) issued the EUA for the shots today.
— Christina Pushaw ?? ???? (@ChristinaPushaw) June 17, 2022
Obviously, there must be FDA approval or an EUA for the system to process orders from healthcare providers.
Retract your lies.