With federal approval of COVID vaccine for kids looking to be barely weeks away, Anne Arundel County’s health officer says he’s laying plans to get the vaccine into as many young arms as quickly as possible.

Dr. Nylesh Kalyanaraman, the county health officer, said in a news conference Tuesday the FDA is meeting next week to decide whether to approve the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine for five to 11-year-olds and the CDC is to meet November second and third to make its recommendations.

Those are the steps he’s waiting for to begin administering vaccines throughout the county, he said.

“We're partnering with the school system to provide vaccination sites at over 20 elementary schools throughout the county so that it's easily accessible for families, and that they can get vaccinated in a familiar and friendly setting.”

He said the county had already formed partnerships with pediatricians to get 12-year-olds and up vaccinated and those partnerships will pay off as they try to get younger children vaccinated.

“A lot of pediatric practices in the county have the capacity to do this vaccination,” he said. “And we'll be able to provide them with the vaccine.”

Kalyanaraman also said he wanted to encourage parents who aren't vaccinated to get vaccinated with their kids to show them that the shot is important.