Chasing Life

I’m sure the good news on Monday surrounding Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine for kids ages 5 to 11 gave parents around the country some much-needed hope.  

Covid-19 cases in children have been rising dramatically, but at the same time, we are trying to give them some sense of normalcy by getting them back into classrooms.

 

If the vaccine is authorized for this age group, that means more than 28 million more people would be eligible to be vaccinated, helping our overall goal as a nation to get more shots in arms.

 

Already, 46% of adolescents ages 12 to 17 are fully vaccinated. But the burden should not just be placed on our children. The largest age group in our country is still adults. Almost 66% of our population 18 and older is fully vaccinated, but that still means there are potentially more than 85 million adults who could be vaccinated.

 

Boosters for the fully vaccinated won’t be our savior, either.

 

“The highest priority is not getting boosters. We think it's important to get boosters to people, but the overwhelming highest priority is to vaccinate the unvaccinated,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Biden's chief medical adviser, told NBC this weekend.

 

Yes, boosters could increase protection. Yes, we want our children vaccinated. But our approach to getting out of this pandemic has too often been about individuals. What we really want is more people to be vaccinated overall so that we protect our community as a whole.

 

When that happens, life can start to feel normal again.

 

Remember: We are all in this together.