Sanford Health to begin vaccinating children under five-years-old this week

It's the final group in the U.S. that has been approved to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

FARGO, N.D. (KVRR) – On Friday, Sanford Health will begin administering Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine to children ages six months to four years.

A doctor from Sanford health says it’s one tenth of the adult dose of the Pfizer vaccine. She says the Pfizer vaccine is 80 percent effective at preventing hospitalizations and death. Three shots are recommended for kids under five because it’s such a small dose and the side effects are minimal.

“When this vaccine was studied in the younger children, there were no serious side effects. Sometimes people will hear about myocarditis or pericarditis which is essentially like inflammation of the heart. That was not seen. There were also no serious allergic reactions or any serious complications from the vaccine,” Sanford Health Pediatrician Dr. Natalie Dvorak said.

At Essentia Health, parents can start making vaccine appointments on Thursday.