New front in COVID war
The good news — and it’s really good news — is that children ages 5 and up can now get vaccinated against COVID -19. In a normal world in which science, common sense, our instincts for survival and the protection of our young prevailed, this would be a big step toward a return to normalcy.
The bad news is that rather than being united in a war against a disease that’s already claimed more than 753,500 lives in this country and 5 million around the world, Americans are still engaged in what’s become one more culture war, this one over a virus. And so they keep dying, most of them unvaccinated, at a rate of more than 1,300 a week.
And there’s every reason to expect children will be caught up in this absurd and tragic argument.
Want this 20-month-long ordeal to end? Want to hear talk of masks and social distancing go away? Want to “unmask our kids”?
Get a shot.
And get your kids vaccinated. The vaccine is already proving efpresident
fective for children 12 to 17 years old; new cases in that age group have plummeted since they qualified for shots. It’s the 5- to 11-year-old group that’s seeing more cases, not coincidentally since the start of that great incubator known as school.
Yes, we know, kids have an easier time with the disease, statistically speaking. But they do get sick — as 2.9 million of them have since the pandemic started — and can transmit the disease to adults at school or bring it home. And they’re not invincible; COVID -19 has taken the lives of 475 kids under 12 so far. It is hard to fathom why any parent would roll the dice when a vaccine is available.
We also need the federal government to get on its game fast, and not feed the skepticism with the delays, mixed messages, and other missteps that complicated the vaccine rollout for adults. While we no longer have a who relishes stoking societal conflicts and promoting nutty cures and treatments, right-wing media has shown itself eager to inflate any glitch into an indictment of government, medicine, science or all three if possible. We realize that with all the pent-up demand, and with vaccines authorized for 5- to 11-year olds barely a week ago, appointments are hard to get and many doctors and pharmacies are awaiting shipments. That’s not surprising. But the Biden administration needs to do all that’s necessary to ramp up this effort, fast.
As for those who want the pandemic to be over but are hesitant to get a shot or have their kids get one, they should keep in mind that the U.S. is still far below the level of vaccinated people needed for herd immunity — the point at which enough people are immune to prevent spread of the disease. That figure, once pegged at about 70 percent of the population, is now considered to be around 80 percent because of the threat of the more highly transmissible delta variant. Right now, we’re at only 58.5 percent of the population, according to the CDC.
We’ve got a long way to go, just as we’re heading into the holiday season. Please, don’t make it the last for you, or for someone you love.