I am a parent of two children under five. I have studied the science. I have examined study after study. And while there will be more studies and more science to come, the conclusion seems inescapable, as inconvenient as it may be ...
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Covid has the potential to severely harm adults and children alike. It is unconscionable and unethical to withhold from parents and pediatricians the only form of protection remaining to them as mask mandates end and the world ceases to concern itself with avoiding the virus.
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It is true: many will be fine after their first infection, but some will not. Some will be hospitalized. Some will die. Some will develop the bewildering and sometimes debilitating symptoms we have come to know as long Covid, for which we have no cure.
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And, perhaps, for still many more, the damage to the brain, heart, lungs, blood vessels, and other organs may not be fully understood for years to come, like with other post-viral illnesses that are now legendary. Like with AIDS. Like with polio.
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We do not know for sure, but the signs are there, and the precautionary principle dictates that if we have a means of avoiding the worst effects of the virus, we must embrace giving families that choice.
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After all, for some, it won't be the first infection, but the second or the third and the cumulative effects thereof that will affect our kids in ways they may not even be able to describe.
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These outcomes are preventable -- not for everyone, but for some -- by the administration of a vaccine proven to be safe. A vaccine which causes fevers and other mild side effects at rates much like those of other childhood vaccines.
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A vaccine which, for every case of myocarditis it creates, it prevents many more such cases that unvaccinated children would otherwise experience. We know all this to be true, and though the efficacy of our vaccines is waning as the virus mutates and new variants emerge ...
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... they still offer sufficient protection to save thousands from acute outcomes and millions from long-term sequelae. The goalposts must stop moving. The adult vaccines would very likely yield the same efficacy seen in kids today, in the Omicron era.
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90% is no longer possible, so it is not 90% vs. 40% we are choosing between, nor 50% vs. 40%. It is 40% vs. 0%. And as I send my kids out into a world where infection is increasingly a certainty, I will happily take an option that reduces their risk by 40% ...
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... especially if there is a chance that the vaccine prevents hard-to-quantify long-term effects better than it prevents easy-to-measure symptomatic illness. This is the same choice we make every year as we dutifully get flu shots, even when the efficacy is regularly poor.
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The flu shot still saves lives. Even when it doesn’t prevent infection, the flu shot still minimizes suffering. @US_FDA and the @CDCDirector must reach the same conclusion with Covid vaccines for kids, because the alternative is no choice at all.
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Infection or isolation are the only options parents like us have. We beg you. Give us the option to do what we can to protect our children and @ImmunizeUnder5s. #ProtectionOverPolitics
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Back to the top of the 🧵:
end/
Back to the top of the 🧵:
https://twitter.com/greg_howard/status/1509794630681780225
Post-script: Though it often seems like it, we are not powerless. Comments before Apr 5 "will be taken into consideration by FDA," and your voice is needed. Tell @DrCaliff_FDA and @FDACBER we must @ImmunizeUnder5s urgently. Anti-vaxxers don't speak for us. regulations.gov/document/FDA-2…
And remember: though Covid gaslighting is intense and inescapable, you are not alone. Find your community, like I did, at protecttheirfuture.org. Follow allies like @DrEricDing, @EricTopol, @DataDrivenMD, @gregggonsalves, @kavitapmd, @acweyand, & @DrScottHadland. Keep fighting.
In the meantime, please #WearAMask. Not with your friends, if that's not your choice, but on transportation and in the public places we all must share. It's a simple way to show you care that #CovidIsNotOver and it's #NotMildForEveryChild.
Top of the 🧵:
Top of the 🧵:
https://twitter.com/greg_howard/status/1509794630681780225
Well, that blew up! I'm happy to lend my voice to a message that resonates with so many: Covid is serious and kids deserve the same protections as adults. And, of course, I'm not surprised to find many voicing their disagreement. Not always kindly, but this is Twitter. 🤷♂️
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To those with honest questions about safety, talk to your doctor. As many have pointed out, I'm not an M.D. ... so trust those who are! There's no evidence of long-term risks from mRNA, but sure, you can wait for other options. Conspiracy theories aside, I see no reason to.
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There are others who seem threatened by the Covid choices I want to make for my family. You don't need to make the same choice. You certainly don't have to "go first." But I don't want to be forced to wait for a vax because *you* think Covid is just the flu. Freedom, right?
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As for those who doubt the existence of #LongCovid and asked for proof (or smugly mocked my "studying the science"), I agree it's challenging to find the research that's already out there. This 🧵 is aging, but it's still among the best I've seen:
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https://twitter.com/IanRicksecker/status/1478611650760437765
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The 🧵 can break at 41/. Try starting at 40/, which makes another key point others have replied with: vaccination only reduces incidence of #LongCovid. It does not prevent it. It's true: we must still #MaskUp to stay safe even after my kids are vaxed.
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https://twitter.com/IanRicksecker/status/1478615142430511108
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The 🧵 can break again at 70/, after which it addresses weaknesses in that Oxford study that make vaccines look less effective against #LongCovid than other studies suggest. (One dose isn't enough!) More research references and a meta-analysis follow.
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https://twitter.com/IanRicksecker/status/1478774896222085125
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So no, don't just take my word for it. And yes, some papers are preprints awaiting peer review. Not every study will have replicable results. But I see plenty to give pause about blithely accepting endless infection given the risks of cumulative organ damage. "You do you."
/end?
/end?
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