Tulsa Health Department Gives COVID Vaccines To Kids 6 Months To 5-Years-Old

The Tulsa Health Department is starting to give COVID vaccines to children ages six months to five years old after the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have been approved by the FDA and the CDC.

The health department said a few thousand doses have now been delivered to Tulsa.

"There are over 47,000 individuals that are under the age of five, so there are a lot of people that vaccines haven't been available to prior to this," said Dr. Ellen Niemitalo with the Tulsa Health Department.

The Tulsa Health Department said 450 kids under the age of five have died in the U.S. because of COVID.

She said while COVID is typically not as severe in younger patients, there have been some serious cases.

"That doesn't mean that COVID is not affecting and affecting significantly this population, in Oklahoma in the past month there have been 6 hospitalizations in this age group of under the age of 5," she said.

She said a lot of testing happens with the vaccines before they are approved, and these vaccines have been tested on current strains.

Niemitalo said the vaccines decrease hospitalizations and keep kids from getting as sick, and vaccines will be helpful as illness spreads quickly in places like preschool and daycare.

"We want to do what we can to protect children but go ahead and let them be around other children and socialize and do so in as safe as a manner as possible," she said.

Niemitalo said the vaccines have been approved to be given at the same time kids get their routine immunizations.

"Knowing that it's one more thing that they can do to protect their child and their family and it's just one more layer of protection," she said.

She said if you are interested in getting your child vaccinated, you can call the health department or reach out to your child's doctor.