We're at a point in the pandemic where interest in COVID is waning. Mask mandates and other COVID restrictions have been lifted, case counts are down and there's a prevailing sense that people just want to get on with it already — parents included.
But of course, the pandemic isn't over. Particularly if you're the parent of a kid under 5 who still isn't eligible to get vaccinated. Moderna recently announced plans to apply for emergency use approval of its vaccine for kids under age 6. (Moderna and Pfizer used slightly different age groups for their trials.) But it's unclear whether that approval could come through before a potential surge of the new omicron variant, BA.2. Medical experts not involved in the trials also say they have questions about efficacy rates over time.
There are questions about older kids and vaccines, too. I recently reported out a question we heard directly from HuffPost Parents readers: Will older kids, age 5 to 11, need booster shots — and when? The answer, I found, was probably yes. But we don't know when, and it's not a given. Pediatricians and public health officials have emphasized that their top priority is getting eligible kids vaccinated in the first place. Only about a quarter of children age 5 to 11 are fully vaccinated in the U.S. at this point.
As the mom of a vaccinated 7-year-old and an unvaccinated preschooler, I can't help feeling like we're still just kind of…stuck. I'd like my younger child to be able to get his shots, and to be able to stop wearing a mask in school. (His preschool still requires it.) I'd also like to know whether my older child needs to get boosted, and what the answer to that question means for the level of protection he has right now. Most of all, I am sick of thinking about all of this.
So what about you? What questions, if any, do you have about kids and COVID and vaccines right now, and how are you feeling at this point? Let me know at catherine.pearson@huffpost.com.
Warmly,
Catherine
