Yesterday we told you about this NYT article by David Leonhardt on Covid and children, finding that an “unvaccinated child is at less risk of serious Covid illness than a vaccinated 70-year-old”:
An unvaccinated child is at less risk of serious Covid illness than a vaccinated 70-year-old.
There is both good news and bad news in that comparison. https://t.co/D7eHsoefxJ
🧵
— David Leonhardt (@DLeonhardt) October 12, 2021
Later on his his thread, Leonhardt made it clear that the decision to even vaccinate children “feels like a close call that leans toward vaccination for an individual child,” meaning if that child is in a particular household, for example, with an elderly grandparent or other at-risk individual:
All of which raises a thorny question: Should young children be vaccinated?
It feels like a close call that leans toward vaccination for an individual child — and an easy decision for the sake of a child’s grandparents and everybody else’s grandparents.
— David Leonhardt (@DLeonhardt) October 12, 2021
And he quoted from Brown University professor Emily Oster who said it’s “reasonable” to be more cautious with kids:
On kids and Covid vaccinations, @ProfEmilyOster says: “I hope we can be prepared to be a little bit gentle with each other,” she wrote. “Asking questions about vaccines for kids or being more cautious for kids than older adults — these are reasonable approaches.”
— David Leonhardt (@DLeonhardt) October 12, 2021
With that said, we have been seeing quite a few people say they will vaccinate their younger kids in an effort to “help restore full normalcy.” For example, from Johns Hopkins’ Jennifer Nuzzo:
I will also vaccinate my two children, ages 5 and 8, if vaccine become available for them. My main motivation is to help restore full normalcy to their lives. Vaccines will help us travel and see friends and relatives with greater piece of mind and reduce our need to quarantine. https://t.co/5R1M6Csdzo
— Jennifer Nuzzo, DrPH (@JenniferNuzzo) October 12, 2021
But as Mary Katharine Ham so rightly points out in response to Nuzzo, there is “[no] evidence from past 18 mos, vaccination of adults, or policies that followed, indicates vaccination of children would restore full normalcy. Goalposts will move again. Anything less than 100% rate will warrant continued tyranny of neuroses & overcaution that rule kids now”:
No evidence from past 18 mos, vaccination of adults, or policies that followed, indicates vaccination of children would restore full normalcy. Goalposts will move again. Anything less than 100% rate will warrant continued tyranny of neuroses & overcaution that rule kids now. https://t.co/ZkiVc93GwF
— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) October 12, 2021
EXACTLY:
If you’re pumped to get your kids vaccinated, I’m happy for you! But the incessant, disproven chant of “earn your normalcy back!” is tiresome. Don’t be surprised people don’t believe it.
— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) October 12, 2021
Does anyone want to bet on how soon we hear, “we can get rid of masks in school once we have everyone vaccinated”? Because that’s coming:
This, right here, is a very real concern internalized by millions — including more than a few strongly pro-vax folks — and the goalpost shifters will always find a way to deflect responsibility for what they’ve wrought 👇 https://t.co/nJ4PEmZS36
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) October 12, 2021
This could be our last chance to make this happen:
THIS! I was thrilled to be able to get DS vaccinated for COVID. But don't BS me that "if we all do as we are told things can return to normal." Just as Biden will use pandemic to fundamentally change the economy, so too will Left use it to fundamentally change everything. 1/ https://t.co/JUZNMSs0C3
— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) October 13, 2021
2/ except the one thing it should have really changed: the government monopoly over education. Seriously, if we can't get funds to follow students with COVID, we never will!!!
— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) October 13, 2021
Unfortunately, yes:
The only thing that is keeping kids from leading a normal life is stupid adults. Who happen to run this country https://t.co/qRoIXZ856Z
— John Feehery (@JohnFeehery) October 12, 2021
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