New Hampshire will open vaccine appointments to residents ages 12 to 15 after a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention panel voted Wednesday to endorse expanded usage of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine for adolescents.
Starting on Thursday, New Hampshire will open appointments in VINI, the state's vaccine scheduling and appointment website.
"Our teams have been preparing to expand eligibility to individuals between the ages of 12 and 15 years old for weeks now and are ready to hit the ground running tomorrow," Gov. Chris Sununu said in a statement. "The vaccine is safe, it is effective, and it remains a vital tool in our efforts against COVID-19. We encourage all families to consider vaccinating their children, and to have those one-on-one conversations with their doctors should they have any questions."
Parents and guardians will be able to register and schedule a COVID-19 vaccine appointment for their children age 12 to 15 years old. Same-day appointments are available at some vaccination clinics.
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Anyone under the age of 18 must have consent from a parent or guardian. This can be verbal consent or written consent onsite or an electronic consent form that can be signed by the parent or guardian at the time of registration.
Due to FDA emergency use authorization requirements, recipients under 18 may only receive the Pfizer vaccine, which is available at the following locations:
- All state-managed fixed sites and Walgreens locations
- Androscoggin Valley Hospital (Berlin)
- Upper Connecticut Valley Hospital (Colebrook)
- Weeks Medical Center (Lancaster/Whitefield)
- Littleton Regional Healthcare (Littleton)
- Huggins Hospital (Wolfeboro)
- Memorial Hospital (North Conway)
- Concord Hospital – Laconia (Laconia)
- Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (Lebanon)
There are more than 25,000 first dose appointments still available in VINI prior to Memorial Day.
