Now’s The Time to Tackle Vaccine-Hesitant Parents
There will be no herd immunity against Covid-19 without inoculating children.
If Covid lingers and outbreaks persist, schools will keep being closed.
Photographer: Romeo Gacad/AFP/Getty Images
More than 910 million Covid-19 vaccine doses have been given and the number is climbing daily. So far, though, the vast majority of those given a shot and targeted by campaigns have one thing in common: They’re adults. That was the right place to start the world’s largest vaccination drive, but it’s not where we should stop.
Children have, it’s true, proven less susceptible to the coronavirus so far. It’s one of the pandemic’s few mercies, even if under-reporting plays a role. But not all have escaped unscathed, and we know infected youngsters have unwittingly passed the illness to others. As with shots for diseases like measles and rubella, Covid-19 vaccinations for kids are about protecting them — and about shielding everyone else. Even if children aren’t “super” spreaders, but merely spreaders, the return to a normality of sorts remains a mirage without them.