Retired teachers take on a grandchild

Year of data, testing backs up vaccine safety, results

Dear Amy: My wife and I are retired teachers. We’re childless.

When 9-year-old “Jacob” asked me at church, “Can I call you Grandpa?” he filled a spot in our lives that had been empty.

That was nine years ago, and now Jacob is planning his university study.

Jacob’s parents immigrated with him from a formerly communist country where they studied at universities.

In America, they have worked hard, but their income is far below ours and they have no retirement savings.

When we pay for things for Jacob, they protest loudly that we do too much for him.

My wife and I are wondering: how we can support Jacob’s university study without offending his parents?

We could give enough to get him through university without federal loans. — Grandpa

Dear Grandpa: First, a shout-out to all of the de facto “grandparents” out there, who step up to engage in powerful relationships with young people. “Jacob” sounds like a lucky young man.

I suggest that you and your wife sit down with Jacob and both of his parents.

Tell them that you have set up a scholarship fund for his education, and that it would cover tuition at his chosen college. Tell them this scholarship would be a gift to be applied only toward education, an there are no strings or expectations attached.

Ask them to discuss it together and to let you know.

If these parents believe that you are overstepping (or if you have in the past), this offer could create a problem within their family. I hope you will be sensitive to that possibility, but … at 18, Jacob is legally an adult, and he should take the lead in terms of financing his college education.

Dear Dr. Roach: I’m a teacher scheduled to get the Pfizer vaccine on Friday. My mom keeps sending me stuff about why I shouldn’t get it — fear of what it will do to the immune system in the future.

Everything I’ve read confirms it’s safe, but she is freaking me out a little.

Could you send me some encouragement as to its safety? — M.C.

Dear M.C.: All the data we have so far — and it’s a year of safety data — tells us that this is both a safe and effective vaccine.

I, and now my whole family, have received the vaccine after I read the safety and efficacy studies.

There have been times when vaccines have had safety problems; however, when those have occurred, the problems generally were seen within weeks of giving the vaccine. Millions of people have now had the vaccine.

The likelihood of an unknown bad effect that will show up later becomes very remote at those numbers. It’s not impossible, so I understand why your mom is concerned. The risk is very small.

You must balance the small potential risk of the vaccine against the risk of getting COVID. Half a million Americans — and millions more people worldwide — have died from COVID, and tens of millions are experiencing long-term side effects.

Nobody has died from the vaccine, and the risk of a serious side effect is about 1 person per 10,000.

So, for yourself, your students and your neighbors, I hope you decide to get it. You are far more likely to have benefit than harm from the vaccine.