COVID-19 Vaccine Booster Dose On Friday, September 17, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) met to review data from Pfizer and to decide whether to authorize booster doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. While they voted in favor of recommending a booster dose for select groups of people, CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) makes recommendations about vaccines that the FDA has approved or authorized and then CDC sets the US adult and childhood immunization schedules based on those recommendations. As is practice, the Rhode Island Department of Health will wait for ACIP to issue its guidelines before authorizing the use of booster doses of COVID-19 vaccine in Rhode Island. ACIP is currently scheduled to meet on September 22 and September 23 to make a recommendation. A booster dose is a dose of a vaccine that is given to someone who is already vaccinated and received protection from that vaccination, but that protection decreased over time. Third or additional doses are currently available to Rhode Islanders who are moderately to severely immunocompromised.
Food Sites for Children Due to the closure of schools, free "Grab and Go" meals are available for children throughout Rhode Island. New sites are still being added so please check back or contact your school district or charter school for more options. At the vast majority of these sites, anyone aged 18 or under who shows up gets a free meal. Some food sites are only providing meals to students who are enrolled in that school/district. These sites have a note under the Time section indicating any restrictions. Some sites now allow parents to pick up meals on behalf of their child, but only if their child attends one of the sites on this list that is indicated with an asterisk (*) after the Location name. Parents should be prepared to validate their connection to the student and in some cases ID may be required. Please check with the individual site for its pickup requirements. Youth under the age of 18 are still able to receive meals from any of the open sites on this list as long as they are present for the pick up, even if they do not attend that school. Find Food Sites School City Select a City/TownAll BarringtonBristolBurrillvilleCentral FallsCharlestownCoventryCranstonCumberlandEast GreenwichEast ProvidenceExeterFosterGlocesterHopkintonJamestownJohnstonLincolnLittle ComptonMiddletownNarragansettNew ShorehamNewportNorth KingstownNorth ProvidenceNorth SmithfieldPawtucketPortsmouthProvidenceRichmondScituateSmithfieldSouth KingstownTivertonWarrenWarwickWest GreenwichWest WarwickWesterlyWoonsocket Note: Sites may take a few seconds to load. Available Food Sites for Children
