Families Can Have A Wonderful Summer Too

We’re fully vaccinated but our kids aren’t — can we still have fun?

Craig Spencer MD MPH
Elemental

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Photo by frank mckenna on Unsplash

Let’s be honest — we all deserve a vacation after the year we’ve just endured. But the people who might need a vacation the most, namely parents who’ve been cooped up with young kids throughout the pandemic, may feel the least comfortable taking one right now.

Even if Covid-19 cases are plummeting as more people get vaccinated (which itself lowers the risk to unvaccinated children), the pandemic definitely isn’t over in the U.S. and unvaccinated kids are still at risk.

Although children 12 and older are eligible for Covid-19 vaccines, younger children won’t be eligible until fall at the earliest. As adults get vaccinated and emerge from their pandemic shells, parents with unvaccinated kids are left wondering a few things. What about us? Is it safe to travel this summer? Can we meet up with friends and families outside? What about indoors?

Sure, you’ve heard that kids make up a relatively small percentage of Covid infections (which is true). And even when infected, the risk of severe disease in children is really, really low (also true). But the risk might feel different if we’re talking about kids in general as opposed to our own kids in particular.

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Craig Spencer MD MPH
Elemental

ER doctor | Ebola Survivor | Public Health Professor at Brown University | A Few Other Things