Should You Vaccinate Your Kid Against Covid?
(A very personal view)
To mask or not to mask. To vaccinate or not to vaccinate.
While this topic seems to be very controversial, it should not be. After all, it is simply a matter of safety. I cannot understand why so many people are against it. However, as someone once told me, “Would you let your child ride in a car without a seat belt?” I would never let my child ride in a car without a seat belt, because I always think of safety first. He is required to receive all standard vaccinations, which are required before he starts school.
Now Aaron is only 8, so he is too young for the covid vaccine (which makes me worry even more, because he could be exposed to the virus at school). But I know other parents with children over 12 have had the vaccination. In Episode 2, our guest was Dan Miller, who is an older parent like myself. In our interview, I asked: “You have children over the age of 12, haven’t you had your children vaccinated?” He replied that he would, and when his youngest child was old enough to be vaccinated, he would have her vaccinated as well.
Check out my interview with Dan Miller below:
I understand some parents’ apprehension about the vaccine; if my son were old enough, I would worry about it, too. But I would still have him vaccinated. Let me explain.
So, at this point, I did a little digging and discovered that there’s still a large portion of the population that do not know how vaccines work. They have a vague idea about Dr. Louis Pasteur, who discovered and perfected the smallpox vaccine procedure, but the modern technology used for the Covid-19 vaccines may not have been explained in a way that is easy to grasp. I get it. Something that re-programs your cells? Sounds like the plot of a sci-fi horror franchise.
I grew up in the 1950s, during the height of the polio epidemic. It was the worst outbreak in the nation’s history at that time. Thousands of children and adults were left with life-long crippling paralysis. We were all frightened of the disease, so when our local pool was finally closed due to a case of polio, we were all relieved; many people couldn’t leave the house or even go to the movies due to the fear. Sound familiar?
The first polio vaccine was available in the United States in 1955. Thanks to widespread use of the polio vaccine, the United States has been polio-free since 1979. But the threat of poliovirus is still a concern for many countries. Without the vaccine and constant monitoring this virus could come back again, as it has in some countries already.
The Iron Lung was invented in 1927 to help breathe those who were unable to do so by themselves. It became ubiquitous during the 1950’s polio epidemic. People usually stayed in the Lung between two and three weeks, or until they could breathe again on their own.
I remember every parent lining up their children to receive the vaccine. To me, the vaccine looked just like a sugar cube. There was no hesitation among the parents. However, today, there is a significant amount of hesitation among parents. In fact, according to some studies, the rate of vaccination has dropped significantly in the United States in the last decade. Why are parents so different today? What has shifted their understanding of science and belief in its role to keep us safe?
Don’t get me wrong: I’m not blind to the controversies and the reality of the so-called revolving door management between government health agencies and pharmaceutical companies. Yet I find myself really perplexed that any parent would run the risk of having their kid infected with delta, gamma, epsilon, whatever at full strength when a vaccine can help with the symptoms and give them a better chance to pull-through.
One of the top possible reasons so many do not trust the covid vaccines may be due to all the for-profit drug pushes we’ve had from Big Pharma over the years. (Opioid epidemic comes to mind… I’m looking at you, J&J).
Yes, of course I’m scared of any vaccine’s side-effects. I’m more scared of covid potential life-long effects though, and how my child’s future could be impacted permanently because I hesitated.
Every parent has the right to make their own choice and express their own opinion regarding this vaccine and other covid-related topics. I guess my point is: science has given us the chance to overcome diseases that had been considered incurable and, ultimately, the covid vaccine is no different in this respect than the polio vaccine. If we have the opportunity to avoid succumbing to this virus, why not take it? Do you agree/ disagree? Share your thoughts below.