There ’s Nothing Left to Debate on COVID-19 Vaccines for Kids

With emergency use authorization for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID vaccine newly approved for children 5-11, many parents are asking the question—should we vaccinate our kids? To be fair, many parents may have already made up their mind on this topic with the majority not rushing to get their kids vaccinated. Much of the argument against vaccinating this younger age group is that COVID-19 just doesn’t seem to cause a high likelihood of significant illness among immunocompetent children. Thankfully, purely as a percentage of total cases, this does hold true. To date, over six million children in the U.S. have contracted this coronavirus which has led to 64,000 hospitalizations and 650 deaths. These numbers pale in comparison to the over 3,00,000 hospitalizations seen during the pandemic in adults that has led to a staggering 718,000 deaths. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] The low rates of complications and severe illness from COVID-19 in children is the exact data needed to justify a swift return to normalcy for many kids. It underscores the fact that schools should be open, recreational activities can continue as scheduled, children should be allowed to socialize with each other in a normal fashion, mask-mandates need an end date, and we should minimize learning loss from exposures. Yet, the argument that kids are, for the most part, unaffected medically by COVID-19 ignores a simple, yet essential, premise. Children are not supposed to die. The denominato...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 Source Type: news