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 3,000,000 hospitalizations seen during the pandemic in adults that has led to a staggering
718,000 deaths.
Children are not supposed to die.
To put this in perspective, COVID would currently
rank 6th in the list of reasons that children die every year in the United States. Trauma (including motor vehicle accidents, drownings, firearm incidents, suffocation and other injuries) dominate the majority of childhood death and drives advancement of seatbelt laws, car seat laws, firearm laws, and swimming pool laws to reduce this number.
The vaccine must also be safe to be effective. COVID-19 vaccines have now been given out to more than
6.6 billion people worldwide, with the
safety data clear. Furthermore, the vaccine prevented 90.7% of
COVID-19 infections in children. The episodes of myocarditis seen more commonly with the mRNA vaccine after the
second dose in males are rare, mild and
easily treated. We tend to forget that this is the same demographic that has developed myocarditis associated with the actual viral infection, oftentimes developing profound illness requiring intensive care.
Spending time debating if instead of how children should get the vaccine ignores every parent’s goal: keeping their children healthy
time.com
