Children with Complex Medical Needs and Disabilities Must be Prioritized for COVID-19 Vaccination

Little Lobbyists demand federal guidance to ensure vaccine prioritization for children who are at highest risk of severe illness and who have been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, including those with complex medical needs and disabilities and Black, Brown, and Indigenous children as soon as a COVID vaccine is approved for their age group.  

It is urgent that we prioritize these children because they have already been disproportionately negatively impacted by the pandemic through social isolation, lack of access to equal and appropriate education, family economic factors, morbidity and mortality rates. As the country hastens to lift mandates and re-open schools and businesses while the virus continues to spread rapidly and mutate, these children are at an ever-increasing risk. Because vaccinated individuals are less likely to spread COVID-19, everyone in a high-risk home must also be prioritized, including family caregivers and siblings.

Every State Department of Health’s vaccine distribution plan must clearly prioritize people with complex medical needs and disabilities. However, COVID-19 vaccination prioritization and implementation has not been uniformly enacted by states. The lack of clarity and consistency in federal vaccine guidance has created significant anxiety and risk for individuals with complex medical needs and disabilities and their families which must be remedied. 

We call upon the Biden Administration to immediately create clear and comprehensive guidance that prioritizes children with complex medical needs and disabilities, Black, Brown, and Indigenous children, to address the inequities exacerbated by this pandemic, mitigate further unnecessary risk, and save the lives of our country’s vulnerable children.  

Photograph of a podium with the Little Lobbyists logo on it. The US Capitol Building is behind the podium on a clear summer day.