When Parents Said No to Their Kids Being Vaccinated, This Teenager Created VaxTeen. It ’s Now More Crucial Than Ever

Like many 18-year-olds, Kelly Danielpour is preparing to start college in the fall, planning out her classes, buying dorm necessities and wondering what her roommate will be like. Unlike many 18-year-olds, she’s also spending her spare time helping teens across the country navigate vaccine-hesitant parents and get their COVID-19 vaccines. As the highly contagious Delta variant spreads, posing a greater risk for people who are unvaccinated and stoking fears of a fourth wave of COVID-19 cases, health experts are urging more Americans to get vaccinated. “This is becoming a pandemic of the unvaccinated,” Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said at a press briefing on July 16. And the looming start of a new school year has fueled debates over vaccine and mask requirements for returning students. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] “There are so many teenagers who are unvaccinated. There are so many adults,” Danielpour tells TIME. Danielpour founded VaxTeen last year to help young people access vaccines and learn about their options if their parents don’t want them to get vaccinated. “A vaccine is a collective health measure. We all have to take part for it to be truly effective.” Vaccination rates are lagging, particularly among young people. Just 42.6% of 18- to 24-year-olds in the U.S. are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 — a smaller percentage than any older age group, acc...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 nationpod News Source Type: news