To Open Schools an Approved Vaccine for Children Must be Prioritized…

I am a progressive liberal. I follow science and the advice of experts. I have a child who has been doing virtual learning since his school closed in March of last year. I recognize that he has fallen behind, I don’t like it of course, but I understand that distance learning is far from ideal. At least I am lucky enough that he passed 4th grade last school year and that he was old enough even in the beginning to get on a laptop without my assistance. I can only imagine how much more difficult it must be for parents with multiple school age children and/or children who are differently abled. At the same time, even though I know and trust what science and experts are telling us and though it may seem selfish to some people, the fact is that there are children who become infected with Covid-19, there are children who die from Covid-19 and there is a growing number of children with long covid. Can you imagine if their symptoms lasted for months? Or years? What if they have permanent damage that affects them for the rest of their lives? Given that I am Brown, as is my son and the fact he is much more likely to experience the worst of COVID-19 if he became infected than a white child, it isn’t a good argument to me that most children are okay even if they get infected with Covid-19, what about the ones, who are mostly Black and Brown, who aren’t okay after being infected with Covid-19? Flu vaccines are approved for children as young as 6 months old, we desperately need a Covid-19 vaccine that is approved for anyone 6 months and older. Thus far, it does not seem to have been made a priority.