Children’s Hospital Colorado Springs kicks off COVID-19 vaccination clinics

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Starting at 3 p.m. Friday, Children's Hospital Colorado Springs will kick off the first of several vaccination clinics for children 5 to 11 years old in Southern Colorado. The Pfizer vaccine is the only vaccine allowed to be administered to this age group.

Upon receiving the go-ahead from both the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration, the state announced vaccinations clinic locations around parts of Colorado. This includes El Paso and Pueblo counties.

A list of where clinics around the state are taking place can be found here.

Dr. Sara Saporta-Keating, a pediatric infectious diseases specialist at Children's Hospital Colorado Springs, says studies done before the CDC and FDA approval for this age group's vaccination show the side effects have been less severe than what adults have reported experiencing.

"The most commonly reported solicited side effects were pain or redness at the injection site, fatigue and headache," says Dr. Saporta-Keating. "Fever, although reported in some children, was certainly not among the highest. Which, is interesting, because that's among the highest of side-effects we see in adults. So it is certainly good news."

Dr. Saporta-Keating says there were unsolicited reports of temporary swelling under the armpit. Unsolicited reports are reports delivered by the parent, not the child.

Children's Hospital Colorado Springs will host the vaccination clinic Friday, November 5th to Sunday, November 7th.

Other clinic location and appointment information can be found here.