COVID-19 Vaccine Booster Approved for age 12 and older

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The FDA and CDC have both approved a COVID-19 booster for children age 12-15, so now everyone age 12 and over is eligible to receive a booster vaccine 5 months after their second vaccine if they had Pfizer, and 6 months after if they had Moderna (only 18+).

At Roslindale Pediatrics, we highly recommend receiving the booster to make sure our patients are fully protected. We are unable to set up anymore COVID-19 Vaccine clinics but we may be able to offer the vaccine at your child’s well visit and this website makes it easy to schedule a vaccine elsewhere.

We also understand it is very difficult to obtain a COVID-19 test right now, so please access this website to look for locations near you. Unfortunately we do not have the capacity to test patients for return to school, travel, or after they have been diagnosed with COVID-19. As a reminder, a positive at home antigen test is just as accurate as a PCR and should not be confirmed with a PCR test. If your child has symptoms and has a negative at home test, this is not as accurate and we should see them in the office.

New Isolation and Quarantine Guidelines

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As of 12/27/21, the CDC has updated their guidelines on how long to isolate when someone has COVID-19 and how long to quarantine if someone is exposed. Please review their new guidelines here. If someone has a positive at home test, this is considered a true positive and a PCR or molecular test is not indicated.

If someone tests positive for COVID-19 without symptoms, they must isolate for 5 days and can come out of isolation on day 6, but must wear a tight fitting mask for the additional 5 days.

If someone tests positive for COVID-19 with symptoms, they must isolate for 5 days and if on day 6 they have no symptoms and are fever free for 24 hours, they can come out of isolation and wear a tight fitting mask for the additional 5 days. If they are unable to wear a mask, they must isolate for a full 10 days.

If someone who is not fully vaccinated (over 6 months since last vaccine and no booster) and they are exposed, they must quarantine for 5 days, and wear a mask for an additional 5 days, and obtain a test on day 5 or later. If they are unable to wear a mask, they must quarantine for 10 days. If they have symptoms, they should call us to discuss testing options.

If someone who is fully vaccinated is exposed, they do not need to quarantine, but should wear a mask around others for 10 days, and obtain a test on day 5 or later.

Please also refer to our COVID-19 page for additional information about the virus and vaccinations. And please call us with any other questions. Keep in mind we have a large call volume right now so it might take a while to hear back from us, we apologize for the inconvenience.

Office Safety Update

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As our COVID-19 numbers continue to surge in Massachusetts, we are asking that only 1 parent accompany each child at a visit. This is to limit the amount of people in our office at one time to decrease the spread of COVID-19. We encourage parents to call in or facetime in for the visit.

We will also continue to ask you to wait in your car until a room is ready for you or your child.

We know this can be difficult to continue with these safety measures for almost 2 years now and we appreciate your cooperation! We can get through this together!

COVID-19 Vaccines Age 5-11

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We currently do not have any upcoming vaccine clinics for dose #1.

We will be holding our dose # 2 clinics over the next few weeks (these are for our patients who have received their first dose) Remember it needs to be 21 days between doses.

We continue to encourage all of our eligible patients to get vaccinated. Vaxfinder.mass.gov has a list of available vaccine clinics.

We will post more information when/ if we schedule more clinics.

Occasionally we have same day availability of vaccine. If you live locally and would like to be placed on a wait list, please call the office and we can add you to the list.

COVID19 Vaccines for 5 to 11 year olds

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We are very hopeful that within the next week children age 5 to 11 years old will be eligible for the Pfizer COVID19 Vaccine. We will be having indoor vaccine clinics at our office, similar to what we have done for the influenza vaccine. The dose is different for this age group so we will NOT be able to offer COVID19 vaccines for patients 12 and older. They can easily schedule an appointment through the mass vax finder website. We will send out a notification once we have more information.

We know a lot of you have questions about the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine in children. Below we have some great resources put together by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the CDC about the COVID19 Vaccine.

Be on the lookout for messages through mychart about how to schedule your child’s COVID19 vaccine once it is approved.

Parent FAQs about COVID19 Vaccines

Was the COVID19 Vaccine Rushed?

CDC COVID19 Vaccine Info for Children and Teens

Infant Boppy Recall

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The US Consumer Product Safety Commision just announced a recall for an infant boppy. The product goes by Boppy Original Newborn Loungers, Boppy Preferred Newborn Loungers and Pottery Barn Kids Boppy Newborn Loungers. If you have a boppy for your baby, please check the product name and click the link below to find out how to get a full refund:

Boppy Recall Info

Flu Clinics

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It’s Flu Clinic Season – the most wonderful time of the year!

As part of our effort to maintain safety and physical distancing for our patients, we are offering flu vaccines by appointment only as we did last year. We were very pleased with how our outdoor clinics worked last year – and we heard many of you were also happy with the system.

Starting this week, we will have “walk up” outdoor clinics in Billings Field on Thursdays. We will also have weekend availability, likely starting in October. You will be able to schedule appointments for these clinics via MyChart. Only patients of RPA will be able to receive Flu Vaccines.

A parent will need to be available to hold their child if necessary. To keep our clinic flow moving, if your child is having a difficult time at the outdoor clinic, you may be asked to re-schedule to an in-office visit. Please schedule separate appointments for each of your children.

Flu clinic appointments are subject to availability of flu vaccine. Please check your MyChart often for availability.

Please note – our outdoor flu clinics are not for needle-phobic patients. Please call the office to schedule an in-office appointment for these patients.

If you are coming to the clinic, please utilize street parking and not park in the RPA parking lot, as we will still be seeing patients in the office, and need to reserve the lot for them.

We have now opened a limited amount slots for tomorrow, September 16th. Please do not be discouraged if you are not able to book a slot, as we will continue to open additional appointments as we are able. We are confident we will be able to get our patients vaccinated quickly and efficiently.

We have a link to the CDC Flu Vaccine Page for the most updated information for the flu vaccine this season. You can also read more at our own Flu Vaccine Page.

At this time, we do not have any updates regarding COVID Vaccination through RPA.

Stay safe and healthy!