Great news! I'm excited that my kids might get Pfizer by summer given its EUA application. But I see anti-vaxers, or just political conservatives who read different news sources, make a different argument; I think they're wrong in at least one way (they typically don't cite any evidence), but I'm not sure exactly where they're wrong, and I don't want to just dismiss them out of hand. Here's their argument: 99.9% of kids who get infected aren't harmed by the virus, but some are harmed by the vaccine (or alternatively, the vaccines are experimental so we just don't know if it harms them). Adults will protect themselves by getting vaccinated. Therefore you shouldn't be risking your kids' health by making them get a vaccine. Where is that argument wrong (if it is wrong)? On the risk to kids from COVID? On the risk of the vaccines? On the unknowns? Of course, we need kids to get vaccinated to stop the spread of the virus and the opportunities for it to mutate, but people making these arguments typically don't have the broader public good in mind, so leave that aside for now, if possible.
Great news! I'm excited that my kids might get Pfizer by summer given its EUA application. But I see anti-vaxers, or just political conservatives who read different news sources, make a different argument; I think they're wrong in at least one way (they typically don't cite any evidence), but I'm not sure exactly where they're wrong, and I don't want to just dismiss them out of hand. Here's their argument: 99.9% of kids who get infected aren't harmed by the virus, but some are harmed by the vaccine (or alternatively, the vaccines are experimental so we just don't know if it harms them). Adults will protect themselves by getting vaccinated. Therefore you shouldn't be risking your kids' health by making them get a vaccine. Where is that argument wrong (if it is wrong)? On the risk to kids from COVID? On the risk of the vaccines? On the unknowns? Of course, we need kids to get vaccinated to stop the spread of the virus and the opportunities for it to mutate, but people making these arguments typically don't have the broader public good in mind, so leave that aside for now, if possible.
Thank you so much for your helpful insights! I really appreciate all of the time and effort you put into helping us understand what's happening.