Health department will offer vaccine to children

The Branch-Hillsdale-St. Joseph Community Health Agency will start offering Pfizer vaccine to children 5-11 years of age beginning Tuesday.

The agency’s scheduling website is prepared to accept pediatric-dose appointments.

Tuesday’s clinic will be at the Dearth Center in Coldwater, followed by Nov. 13 at Three Rivers Middle School.

Agency officials said the results seen in the 5-11-year-old study group demonstrated 91 percent effectiveness in preventing COVID-19 illness. The most commonly reported side effects of the vaccine in the clinical trials included pain at the injection site, tiredness, headache, chills, muscle pain, fever and joint pain. These symptoms lasted from up to three days.

The agency’s website is: bhsj.org/scheduling.