The CDC’s New Mask Rules Leave Kids Out. Here’s How to Fix That.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention made waves when it announced last week that vaccinated people can doff their masks. But one group of people has no hope of doing so: kids, for whom vaccines are still largely not authorized by the Food and Drug Administration. Only the Pfizer shot is authorized for kids as young as 12. So while adults may celebrate going back to their normal lives, we’re still asking kids to observe all the rules of pandemic life.

They’ve been taken out of school or made to take extraordinary precautions there, isolated from their friends, deprived of many sports and other activities, and made to endure mask-wearing and social distancing, even outside. Add to that the hardships their families have faced from the economic disruption caused by the pandemic.