We Must Protect Our Children…Get Vaccinated!
Covid-19 is surging in every state including Ohio. There were 3,393 cases reported in Ohio on Wednesday August 11th which represents the largest number since 3,305 were reported on February 12th. The seven-day positivity rate in Ohio is 7.7%, greater than 5% represents “high transmission” level. It should be noted that all sixteen counties in the Greater Cincinnati area have a level of transmission designated as “high”. Hospitalizations are on the rise in Ohio, yet it remains the case that 98.4% of those hospitalized are not fully vaccinated. The Delta variant makes up 86.4% of the positive tests identified in the latest round of sequencing. The adult population of Ohio continues to lag behind the national rate of vaccination. Only 61% of Ohioans over age 18 have received at least one dose of a vaccination compared to 71% of US adults over age 18. The good news is that vaccinations are on the rise in Ohio. Roughly 8,200 shots were given on the first day of last week compared to 4,300 daily in the second week of July. Note that during March there was a daily average of 60,370.
Since the beginning of this pandemic our children have experienced less severe consequences from Covid-19. Unfortunately, as the highly contagious Delta variant has spiked in our country, the Children’s hospitals in multiple states including AR, FL, LA, MO, MS, and TX have become overwhelmed. Children are becoming ill in record numbers typified by the 71,726 cases reported in the USA last week compared to the 38,654 cases reported the previous week. Further information from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) shows that children represented 19% of the cases reported during the week ending July 29 compared to 14.3% of the cases since the beginning of the pandemic. Unfortunately, death has visited 350 children since the beginning of the pandemic. Tens of millions of children have been directly affected by being out of the classroom due to the pandemic. They have suffered isolation and other affronts to their mental health. Additionally, the “educational gap” that already existed has dramatically increased. This is particularly the case for students in low-income and minority communities. Multiple surveys of educators have revealed that children in these communities have been disproportionately impacted.
It is clear that our children need to be back in school. In-classroom instruction is a key to healing their mental health. Also, this action is necessary to arrest the widening educational gap and to implement measures necessary for closing the preexisting disparity. The impediment to their returning to in-class instruction is this viral scourge and its variants. There are about 48 million children in the US who are under the age of 12 and therefore not eligible for Covid-19 vaccination. Studies are ongoing which will determine the safety and efficacy of the vaccines in these children. We cannot allow our need to have vaccines available for children under 12 to supersede the proper scientific precautions being followed, before they are released.
There remain widespread concerns about the safety and efficacy of the current vaccines. May those who claim concern about the current EUA status be comforted by the safe administration of billions of doses worldwide and by the 360M-plus shots safely given in the US. Additionally, after considerable study, the Pentagon is mandating vaccination for all active-duty forces. They understand that vaccination is part of “force protection” and the benefit to our fighting women and men far outweighs the minimal risk from the vaccines. Another indicator of vaccine safety and effectiveness came today with the CDC recommending that all pregnant women get a Covid-19 vaccination to protect themselves and their unborn.
We must do all we can to protect our children’s safe return to school. We can achieve this by the unvaccinated teens and adults getting vaccinated. Secondly, by following the CDC guidelines of everyone wearing masks indoors in high transmission areas. Additionally, Covid-19 testing, although not an ideal substitute for vaccination, should be used more extensively. Lastly, we can help ourselves by following CDC guidelines for social distancing of three feet for children in school, along with masking and appropriate ventilation in classrooms and indoor spaces.
We need to beat this virus and its current variants now. Further delays will allow the emergence of new variants which almost certainly will be less amenable to our current vaccines. At this time, the safest ticket for getting our children back into the classroom is teen and adult vaccination!
