Sparrow Health System is expecting to receive 500 infant doses of the COVID-19 vaccine this week.
On Saturday, the CDC gave final approval for a vaccine that can be administered to children as young as six months.
Dr. Paul Entler is vice-president of Quality and Performance Improvement at Sparrow Health System.
He recognizes that parents of infants and toddlers may be hesitant to immunize their children, but he hopes enough will come forward to help curb the spread of COVID-19.
“I’m cautiously optimistic that we’ll be able to hit a meaningful target so as to help potentially reduce other new variants forming in the system,” Entler said.
Entler says parents should seek out trusted sources of information, such as their pediatrician, before having their child get the vaccine.
He adds there’s still lingering concern among health care providers about so-called long COVID, which can produce symptoms like fatigue and irritability.
“The vaccine can actually help prevent some of those long-term consequences which may be hard to see in a toddler,” he said. “So that would be another reason, really, to talk to a physician, just to really understand what long COVID is.”
Entler says Sparrow should receive the vaccine shipment sometime this week.