5 Reasons We Won't Give Our Kids the COVID Shot
The past year and a half has been a difficult time to be a parent. From home-schooling our kids, to navigating the gray area of varying level of COVID comfort with other families, parents have had to constantly evaluate how to protect our families, and our sanity.
My kids have had every vaccine on the recommended schedule to date. My husband and I have, too. I know that part of the reasons humans live so long today is because of the strides medical professionals have made with vaccines to prevent life threatening diseases. And I'm grateful for this.
But I have some questions about this shot.
Like all of us, I am interested in what science says. What is true about data is that we can all find information to support what we believe. What is true about the media is their job is to get attention, and portray a narrative -- always. And given the highly politicized nature of this issue, it's hard to weed through to find the nuggets of truth.
We cannot glean the full story from mainstream media. As more of our personal, body liberties are decided for us on a governmental scale, and as schools weigh the need to force shot mandates on our children, I feel I have to speak up for those parents who, like me, are asking questions.
Here are five data-based reasons why we will not give our kids the COVID shot.
EFFICACY
What we know about the COVID vaccine is that it offers non-sterilizing immunity. This means that even if you give your child the shot, it does not ensure they will not get and spread the virus.
The viral load in the nasal canal of someone who is vaccinated shows insubstantial difference from someone who is not (meaning it is just as easy to carry and spread). The UK Technical Briefing, one of the largest publicly available sources of data on transmissibility of COVID stated:
"There is limited difference in viral load (and Ct values) between those who are vaccinated and unvaccinated. Given they have similar Ct values, this suggests limited difference in infectiousness."
We're seeing breakthrough cases everyday of those who have gotten the shot.
Your child having the shot does not offer safety for others -- in schools, or for the elders, or immunocompromised in your family. Don't let other people say that your unvaccinated child is any more of threat than anyone else. A vaccinated child can get and spread the virus, too.
Proponents of the shot say that it lessens symptoms associated with COVID once infected. This may be true. For a child with a compromised immune system, you may have to weigh costs and benefits more closely. But giving it to their healthy siblings and friends does nothing to protect them.
Furthermore, it's important to asses REAL level of risk in a population when considering mandates. The CDC regularly publishes number of cases and deaths by age group. For children under 12, the CDC reports 362 COVID related deaths out of 2,733,722 cases through October 14, 2021. In ages 12-17, 314 deaths out of 2,466,183 cases. For both age groups, that's a 99.996% survival rate!
Any child death is a tragic one. But in the scope of threat to life for the whole, it's important to keep perspective.
According to the CDC data, fewer children are dying from COVID than flu/pneumonia. And homicide and drowning are a bigger life threat to children than COVID.
So why are we considering making it mandatory for this age group?
SAFETY
Strains of the COVID virus have been around for decades. Scientists have been working to create a vaccine for this same duration. However, mRNA shots have never safely made it past clinical animal testing. They have never before been used in humans.
Traditional vaccines have a latent form of the virus it fights embedded within them to help the body create immunity to a specific disease. This shot does not. It relies on synthetic additives to initiate spike protein response.
It is truly incredible science. But it has never before been tested in humans.
For parents who spend our entire lives buying GMO free and organic food, avoiding drinks with dyes, and only using shampoos, sunscreens and lotions without parabens, the use of this shot in our children is a philosophical affront.
We're seeing some of the SHORT TERM side effects in vaccinated 12-17 year old populations that include abnormal increase in myocarditis (heart inflammation). An Israel Study of 884,828 vaccinated people found that:
“The risk [of myocarditis] appears to be highest among young men.
We found that the risk of myocarditis increased by a factor of three after vaccination, which translated to approximately 3 excess events per 100,000 persons.
Britain’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization (JCVI) has recommended against COVID injections for healthy 12-15 year old kids because based on their findings...
“There is increasingly robust evidence of an association between vaccination with mRNA COVID-19 vaccines and myocarditis.”
Furthermore for women and girls specifically, there have been over 140,000 documented cases in the U.S. of women experiencing changes in their menstrual cycle after getting the shot (read more). Those are just the documented cases. Further, just through early April, 2021, 100 pregnancy losses were reported in VAERS.
As a parent, one of my questions as it relates to females is as follows: if the vaccine has affected a significant number of women’s menstrual cycle (women whose periods stop for many months post-vaccination), how does the vaccine affect young girls who are in puberty?
We don’t fully know because these vaccines are so new.
We can't yet know MEDIUM and LONGTERM side effects. We haven't had enough time to study, nor see them unfold. I am not interested in having my kids be guinea pigs for this experiment.
Also, in 1986 vaccine companies lobbied to be released of any vaccine-related liability. If anything were to happen to your child from this jab, short term or long, there is absolutely no accountability. When the very creators do not stand behind their product, it certainly makes me raise an eyebrow.