Vaccinate Debate: Vaccinate Your Kids?

I’ve been asked point blank by other moms, teachers, family members and even listeners about where I stand about the COVID vaccine. My answer is kind of a mixed bag. I’m not trying to avoid the issue; it’s just that I can’t be emphatic about anything that I have never dealt with before. Give me cold hard facts and I’ll muster up a decision and stick to it but this COVID thing has ever-changing variables so how can I be sure? I'm a straight shooter so here's where we're leaning with my family. My husband, Tony, is a food store manager. He sees over 18 thousand people come through his store per week. He will get it. I have no underlying health concerns and my job is different because for the most part there's only a handful of air personalities in the building at any given time and we are all very careful and masked when not on air. Now, let’s move on to what really matters, what about my kids? Here's where I sit with that…my kids do not happen to be compromised health wise. Also, they are not going to school outside the home right now or engaging in activities. They do have a small bubble of people they have been quarantining with (2 friends per child). We don’t go out of the house except for the rare eating out about once a month. Right now, I’m happy to wait which is fine because the kids vaccine is not even ready yet. It's coming though. Dr. Fauci says that we can expect a children's version to be ready by this September. My gut tells me that Tony and I will be vaxed by September (I'm not opposed to get it myself, I'm just not in a rush) and we will hold off on the kids until Oct and then reassess. I guess I’m just hoping to learn more and I’m buy a bit more time.

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Here is what we know right now about a kids vaccine…

Clinical trials for kiddos have started because we need to know that it’s effective and safe before a back to school distribution. It looks like Pfizer is the only manufacturer whose pediatric vaccine trials are far enough along to offer info on elementary-school age children by the end of the summer.

Moderna is not too far behind, they're still enrolling participants in their child study.

Johnson and Johnson have not started any pediatric study yet. Out of 20 million COVID cases, children make up about 2.2 million of them. It is rare for them to get really sick but they can spread it to others pretty quickly.

I gotta tell ya, this was never in any of the parenting books I read. We all want to make the right decision and I respect everyone’s stance on this. These are uncharted times and we have to support each other now more than ever. As I learn more I’ll keep you guys posted!
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