By Brian Ly | Staff Writer
With the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines and declining cases in the United States, schools have been moving forward with reopening plans. However, there is currently not enough data to allow children under the age of 16 to safely take the vaccine, even as some return to classes. When the vaccine becomes available for all ages, requiring the shot for school enrollment in the upcoming school year is key to creating a safe environment for students.
Widespread vaccination of children and teens helps give students and parents relief, so students can attend classes feeling safer. The risk of infection after receiving the vaccine has been rare, and reducing the risk of transmission between students as they file back into classes is paramount.
The effort also furthers the U.S in achieving herd immunity, a difficult process if the youth in the country are not vaccinated.
Several pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer and Moderna have already started testing adolescents and young children.
“We project that high school students will very likely be able to be vaccinated by the fall term, maybe not the very first day, but certainly in the early part of the fall for that fall educational term,” stated Dr. Anthony Fauci on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
Even with social distancing guidelines put in place, the lingering danger of students being infected or experiencing asymptomatic cases is something that can be further reduced with the usage of authorized vaccines in the future.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, most children only experience mild symptoms or none at all, but they are still effective transmitters of the virus. Some children may end up requiring hospitalization, intensive care, or ventilators to help with breathing, and any situation where a child may be infected with COVID-19 is unacceptable.
COVID-19 can and should be avoidable when possible, especially when it can permanently change lives. However, with the vaccine not yet being administered to young children under the age of 16, it is crucial to protect students going back to school when the possibility of another surge due to the reopening of campuses simply cannot be ignored.
“More than 1 million children have been infected with this virus since the beginning of the pandemic, and children have suffered in numerous other ways,” said Dr. Sara Goza, former president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, in a statement late last year. “This includes disruptions to their education, harms to their mental and emotional health, and greatly diminished access to critical medical services.”
At least 14 U.S college campuses have decided COVID-19 vaccinations were to be required for enrollment in the fall term, and it should be no different for high school campuses.
It is unconscionable for life-saving medicine to not be included with other shots required for student enrollment. To ensure the safety of both school environments and the lives of students, COVID-19 vaccines being mandatory for enrollment in the upcoming school year is crucial.
