By Richard E. Besser and Julie Morita, USA TODAY, April 19, 2021
Americans face a challenge of our own making on the path to herd immunity: our failure to properly consider the needs of children.
While we can celebrate the fact that more than 200 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in the U.S., few of them, outside of clinical trials, have gone into the arms of children younger than 16. That’s why we need to recalibrate our expectations — and redouble our efforts — so that the tens of millions of children in this country are kept safe.
As both parents and pediatricians, we’re troubled by the governors who appear to have declared victory, removing mask mandates, fully reopening businesses, and acting with apparent disregard for what this virus is capable of. What was true a year ago remains so today: children are only protected when adults do their part. When adults get vaccinated, a growing body of evidence suggests that they also protect those who cannot: children and people with medical conditions which preclude them from being vaccinated. But until children are vaccinated, they and many adults in their communities will be at risk, and a full return to normal life is premature.
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