 As medical providers throughout the country prepare for the expansion of the COVID-19 vaccine to include children ages 5 through 11, many parents are sure to have some questions and concerns. In an effort to provide the most accurate information possible, Mountain Top News recently sat down with Tug Valley pediatrician Dr. Charles Johnson for some additional insight into what this news means for families. Now recently it was approved by the FDA and CDC for the COVID vaccine for the kids ages 5 to 11. They have been doing studies for quite some time on this age group and they found that they it is a very good vaccine for these kids with minimal side effects. I think there was no through all the studies there wasn't even one major side effect from the vaccine. As Dr. Johnson explains the Pfizer vaccine for children is a smaller concentration of the adult version of the vaccine. Well for the kids from ages 5 to 11 it is Pfizer. It is a third of the adult dose okay and it is a two dose vaccine which three weeks apart just like the older kids in the adult but it is a third of the dose of what the adults get and they found that this dose gives the body a good response and produce antibodies that are very capable of protecting these children against COVID-19. Here at Pikeville Medical Center's Heart and Vascular Institute we have assembled a comprehensive team of cardiac specialists bringing expertise from all regions of the nation and the world. We have coupled that with cutting edge technology providing them the best equipment and operating rooms available. The result is comprehensive cardiac care for the people of our region that is second to none. The Heart and Vascular Institute at Pikeville Medical Center. While no major side effects were observed in children during clinical trials Dr. Johnson says that the typical side effects commonly associated with vaccines may still appear after inoculation. Yes I mean from what we have gathered it's just minimal symptoms sometimes or maybe some cough congestion low grape fever and fatigue which are just transient and just last for short periods of time probably just like about a lot of the adults experience. Dr. Johnson also notes that while vaccination is a personal decision he believes that once they are given the facts most people will choose to be vaccinated. Well certainly our practice is recommended the COVID-19 vaccine for all the ages that it's been approved for. We will start next week rolling it out here in our clinic. This is a little different than the others I think they're mainly one in this to be distributed through pediatricians offices if possible because there are going to be a lot of questions and my suggestion is any parent or family that's a little hesitant or is not sure about it's to talk to the pediatrician face to face and get the facts and then you know the way I feel about it is a individual decision but I would just like for those individuals to have all the facts that we know at this time. For Mountaintop News, I'm Joshua Slum.