COVID-19 Vaccines for 5- to 11-Year-Olds

At Aidan Montessori School, our children’s safety is our primary goal. With the advent of COVID-19, the unknown and the newly known have caused our school—and most organizations—to make difficult decisions and practice flexibility under fluid conditions.

As of the current school year, being vaccinated against COVID-19 is a condition of employment at Aidan. Every employee of the school is vaccinated, and all contractors who visit the school regularly are required to show proof of vaccination.

The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children 5 through 11 years of age was recently approved for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) by the FDA on October 29 and now awaits further guidance from the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. The potential normalcy and safety for our students and families that this vaccine brings is thrilling!

We welcome any and all opportunities to return to pre-pandemic routines, and we anticipate that vaccines for children ages 5 to 11 may be available as early as next week. While being vaccinated against COVID-19 is not currently a condition of enrollment at our school, it likely will be for the 2022-2023 school year at most schools. As the vaccine is made available to incremental age groups, it is our hope that we will be able to continue to move the learning experience closer to the norms we all appreciate. 

Therefore, we strongly encourage all students to receive the COVID-19 vaccine as soon as they are eligible.

Included below are a couple links to locations of vaccination sites around the DC-area in addition to information about upcoming information sessions on the vaccines:

• Mayor Bowser and DC Health Announce Vaccination Plans for Children 5-11 Years Old
• D.C., Montgomery County Announce Plans To Vaccinate Kids Under 12
• Vaccines.gov

On Thursday, November 4 at 7 PM, there will be a virtual town hall featuring school community advocates and childhood health experts providing information on issues concerning COVID-19, including vaccinating children and other ways to keep kids safe. This Facebook live event, "Securing Our Children's Health: A Virtual Town Hall About Kids and COVID-19" is hosted by the Black Coalition Against COVID and the We Can Do This campaign. To tune-in, visit: www.facebook.com/BlackDoctor.org

We are here as a resource for information, vaccination sites, student eligibility, and appointment availability. There will soon be a place on Magnus for you to upload your child’s completed vaccination card so we can keep track of when students become fully vaccinated, while also monitoring how much of our student population is vaccinated.

Please be patient with us as we enter this pivotal time. We want, very much, to modify our current policies and protocols, but we will need to allow time for our students to become fully vaccinated while also continuing to follow the DC Department of Health guidelines. 

Feel free to reach out with any questions you may have. 

Stay well,

Nurse Lexi