Oct. 13 2023— It’s been a month since the CDC recommended the updated COVID-19 vaccine for everyone 6 months old and older, and promised the vaccines would be “available by the end of this week at most places you would normally go to get your vaccines.”

But since that recommendation on Sept. 12, legions of parents are still searching for the vaccine, especially for their youngest children, and growing increasingly frustrated.…

Supplies: Adult vaccines were rolled out first, but more pediatric doses are coming, said spokespeople for both Pfizer BioNTech and Moderna, the two vaccines approved for ages 6 months and older.

According to a Pfizer spokesperson, “Pfizer shipped and delivered more than 18 million doses of its 2023-2024 COVID-19 vaccine, including more than 1.5 million pediatric doses for children under 12. We’re continuing to meet demand from wholesalers and customers and anticipate delivering millions of additional doses each week.”…

Doctors’ buy-in: As the vaccine supplies became commercialized and doctors now have to pay, some pediatricians were reluctant to order the vaccines, citing tight profit margins and uncertainty about how many of their patients would opt for the updated vaccine.

Now, Pfizer is allowing a 100% return policy, which is expected to result in more pediatrician offices ordering the vaccine, which comes in three-dose vials. In an email, a Pfizer spokesperson confirmed that “Pfizer has a 100% return policy for wasted/expired vaccines for under 5 and [buyers] will receive credit within 60 days of Pfizer receiving the return.”

Moderna’s pediatric COVID vaccine is provided in single-dose vials, a spokesperson said, noting that pediatricians “have more precision when ordering and there is therefore less waste. Moderna does allow for a percentage of an order to be returnable.”

These policies seem to have helped.