Minor COVID Vaccination: Get it Done!

I read a story today that was enough for me to break a long silence and write a diary again.  This is a matter that should be of concern to all Democrats, and about which we can get something done.

To get the COVID vaccine, 16-year old Nicolas had to hide it from his parents.

This kid’s parents fell down the social media disinformation rabbit hole and are anti-vaxxers.  They’re not vaccinated, and they’d never allow him to get vaccinated.  But Nicolas is a good boy, a smart, boy, and he loves his abuela, and he did not want to put her life at risk.  So, behind his parents’ backs, he took advantage of a new law in Philadelphia, and got himself vaccinated while staying with his aunts.

I said to myself, that can’t be right, and I looked up further information.  My state is known as very progressive, but up there it is in dark blue.  How many kids like Nicolas are unvaccinated in my state because their parents are too busy or too deluded to protect them?

My son, who is also a minor, wouldn’t be able to attend his college if I didn’t go to the pharmacy with him and get him vaccinated.  He couldn’t walk in to that appointment by himself, per our laws.  He can do so many things without me, but that’s not one of them.  Is there another kid like him, but missing out on opportunities because his parents won’t step up?  Another kid at risk, or with family at risk, because his parents won’t step up?

Omicron did not leave kids alone.  Unlike previous variants, case rates were higher among the young than the old.

Maybe those kids aren’t at great risk of death, but they’re at greater risk of death if they’re unvaccinated, and those elders around them who may be more vulnerable are at greater risk too.  Nicolas is sixteen, and he understood this perfectly.  His parents don’t.  Why should kids like Nicolas be unable to seek vaccination by themselves?

I wrote my state representative this morning, asking him to act.  My state should have a law that permits minors to get vaccines without their parents’ permission.   So should yours.  Write your state rep today and ask.