Ages 5-11 Soon Have to Show Vaccine Cards in San Francisco

San Francisco County will soon require children ages 5-11 to show proof of Covid-19 vaccination to enter certain indoor public spaces like restaurants, entertainment venues and sporting events, just like adults, SF public health officials said this week.

The local vaccine mandate already requires children and adults over the age of 12 to show proof that they are vaccinated before entering many indoor spaces. Now, city health officials are planning to extend the health order to children ages 5 to 11, the group newly eligible for the shot.  To get your child vaccinated in the Bay Area or CA, find info and appointments here.

Since The Bay Area only began administering pediatric vaccines this month, it’s safe to say that proof of vaccine for children will not be required until the new year. San Francisco Health Officer Susan Philip said the requirement won’t kick in for at least two months.

“We definitely want to wait and make sure children have an opportunity to get vaccinated, so that will happen no sooner than about eight weeks after the vaccine is available for kids,” Philip said at a town hall meeting this week:

Vaccinations of the younger age group began Wednesday in California, the same day West Coast scientific experts announced they greenlighted the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children ages 5-11 — and a day after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended the kid-sized dose. The pediatric vaccine is a third of the adult dose and is given in two doses, 21 days apart.

Officials from the San Francisco Department of Public Health on Wednesday confirmed the plan, saying the city’s current vaccination and masking requirements will be reexamined once the younger children have adequate time to be vaccinated.

“As with children 12-17 who may not have personal identification, we will follow the same approach with the younger kids such that they would not be penalized for not having an ID,” a spokesperson from the department wrote to the press this week.