photo by: Lauren Fox

From left, siblings Paityn Van Middlesworth, 12, and Aiden Van Middlesworth, 15, received COVID-19 vaccines at LMH Health on May 18. Their mom, Kristan Van Middlesworth, is pictured on the far right.

Story updated at 4:07 p.m. Wednesday:

Two of the largest health care entities in Douglas County are expected to start providing COVID vaccinations for children ages 5 to 11 next week.

Both LMH Health and Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health have announced plans to begin administering the vaccine now that it has won necessary federal approvals.

LMH said it would offer the vaccine at all of its clinics and doctors’ offices, except for First Med and the McLouth Medical Clinic. A release from LMH Health said vaccinations would begin “the week of Nov. 8.”

“We recommend scheduling an appointment for vaccination to allow these younger patients more time to become comfortable and at ease with the vaccine process,” Rebecca Smith, vice president of strategic communication for LMH, said in a message. “This also provides parents and guardians the opportunity to ask questions of the provider about the vaccine.”

The health department has also set up a registration system for administering shots, and it has committed to begin the process of giving shots on Nov. 10. The health department has designated 12 locations — including eight school sites — that will provide the shots to children.

Parents are asked to go to ldchealth.org to set up an appointment or call 785-843-0721.

Dates and sites that the health department has scheduled include:

• Nov. 10: 4-7 p.m., East Lawrence Recreation Center

• Nov. 10: 4-7 p.m. Eudora West Resource Center

• Nov. 11: 3:30-6:30 p.m. Lecompton Elementary School

• Nov. 11: 5-8 p.m., Raintree Montessori School

• Nov. 12: 4-7 p.m., Holcom Park Recreation Center

• Nov. 12: 4-7 p.m., Community Building

• Nov. 13: 9 a.m.-noon: West Middle School

• Nov. 13: 2-5 p.m.: Liberty Memorial Central Middle School

• Nov. 16: 4-7 p.m.: Baldwin High School

• Nov. 17: 4-7 p.m.: Sports Pavilion Lawrence

• Nov. 20: 2-5 p.m.: Southwest Middle School

The health department registration form will ask for health insurance information. People who don’t have health insurance should enter the code “COVID 19 HRSA” as the insurance name and should enter the child’s first and last name as the policy number.

When the registration is completed, the person registering should receive a confirmation email or text with a QR code that will be used at the vaccination site.

Local health care officials are strongly encouraging parents to consider vaccinations for their children now that clinical trials have been completed for the Pfizer vaccine and have received CDC approval.

“The risk of a serious complication from a COVID infection is much greater than the risk of an adverse side effect from the vaccination,” said Dr. Jennifer Bihlmaier, a provider at LMH Health’s Mt. Oread Family Practice. “All childhood vaccinations to date have been shown to be safe.”

For information on where LMH Health will be offering doses, go to lmh.org and look under the “get care” section for family medicine providers. Internal medicine providers will not be offering the dose to children, as those practices only see adults.

Some private pharmacies in Lawrence also expect to be providing doses of the vaccine to children next week. Erick Axcell, owner/pharmacist at Lawrence-based Jayhawk Pharmacy, said he’s pre-ordered 300 doses of the vaccine and hopes to receive them by Nov. 11. If that delivery schedule holds true, he said he likely would start taking reservations to provide doses, and also will likely have walk-in hours from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. on school days.

“I think it will be a pretty steady stream in the beginning,” he said of children getting the vaccine.

Jeff Sigler, owner/pharmacist at Lawrence-based Sigler Pharmacy, said he also expects to receive children’s vaccine doses next week. He plans to operate a large-scale clinic at Theatre Lawrence, similar to what he has been offering teens and adults for several months. He said he’s holding off on announcing any dates for the clinics until he gets confirmation that the doses have shipped.

“We also are still working on some ideas to do some fun things since it is kids,” Sigler said. “We want to keep them engaged so that it is not traumatic.”

Sigler said his company’s clinics for children will be held on separate days than the clinics he’s been hosting for teens and adults to ensure that there is no confusion about dosing. He said that is a new consideration for providers to take into account, given that there are now two different vials of vaccines being provided to clinics — one for a teen/adult dose and another for a child’s dose.