Dear Virginia State Board of Health,

I wanted to express my opposition to mandating mRNA technology for children, especially as it is being used to address Covid-19.  There are a variety of reasons it is not ethically appropriate and should not be allowed.  If you are men and women who hold science (not scientism) as something that directs your decisions, please look at the data and recall your schooling.  Thank you.

A couple of relevant points: For a population to move past a disease we need herd immunity.  We have never vaccinated into a pandemic in an attempt to reach heard immunity.  Because immunologists do not recommend it.  We need a massive chunk of the population to gain natural immunity.  This coronavirus gives us an amazing chance with very low risk.  A large portion of our population essentially has zero risk if there are no comorbidities.  Even better, they will grow up and backfill our world with billions that have natural immunity.  That part of the population is school age children and young adults.  If death rates where higher I could not say this in with a clear conscience.  I have a 13yo and 18yo.  They disserve smart measured decisions from adults to protect for the future. 

Vaccines have never worked for respiratory viruses.  It is not immoral to try but we now know these shots do not prevent spread.  It looks like they cause ADE to occur and likely make those who have taken a shot more likely to have serious symptomatic reactions to the new variants they play a part in making.  Please review numbers coming out of Massachusetts, Israel, and UK for example.  Folks that have not had the shots (children and adults) do not spread a virus they don't have.  People who have had an mRNA shot can still get sick and shed virus/spike asymptomatically.  Children are not a threat to each other or at risk (in any reasonable sense) of serious disease or death (see below).  We need to protect the old, unhealthy (with comorbidities) and immune compromised.  

Next, lets be serious, it is an experimental drug.  If the FDA approves them all tomorrow it does not change the experimental nature.  Not unless we severely change our standards for new medications.  Honestly, knowing what we now know, it feels like a violation of the The Nuremberg Code.

Some references: 

Low Risk for Children

Mortality rate among children is zero for children without pre-existing medical conditions: https://s3.amazonaws.com/media2.fairhealth.org/whitepaper/asset/Risk%20Factors%20for%20COVID-19%20Mortality%20among%20Privately%20Insured%20Patients%20-%20A%20Claims%20Data%20Analysis%20-%20A%20FAIR%20Health%20White%20Paper.pdf

Children are at very low risk of COVID-19
https://osf.io/ezdf2/

Children have strong preexisting immunity to Sars-Cov-2
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/370/6522/1339

Hospital outcomes for children significantly better than adults
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/2766037

Children spread COVID-19 much less than adults
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/2766037

TEACHERS DO NOT FACE INCREASED RISK FROM CHILDREN

Minimal transmission in primary schools
https://www.eurosurveillance.org/content/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2020.26.1.2002011#abstract_content

U.S. Child Care Programs show no significant impact from COVID-19

No association of elevated risk for school providers

https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/147/1/e2020031971.long

Spread among schools in the Fall was subordinate at best
https://www.cream-migration.org/publ_uploads/CDP_22_20.pdf

The risk of in-person schooling for teachers is are comparable to the risks of commuting by automobile
https://www.nber.org/papers/w28619

SCHOOLS HAVE NOT DRIVEN THE SPREAD OF COVID-19!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Extremely limited secondary transmission in schools
https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/147/4/e2020048090

Were the risks of opening schools exaggerated
https://www.npr.org/2020/10/21/925794511/were-the-risks-of-reopening-schools-exaggerated

Unicef: “the net benefits of keeping schools open outweigh the costs of closing them.”
https://www.unicef.org/coronavirus/six-point-plan-protect-children

Transmission in school settings were uncommon
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(20)30882-3/fulltext

CHILDREN SPREAD COVID LESS FREQUENTLY

Adults living with children are not at increased risk of contracting the disease:
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.11.01.20222315v1 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In fact, the disease was attenuated in families with children:
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.11.01.20222315v1

Children “act as a brake” on the disease. (Massive study out of Germany)
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.11.01.20222315v1

Transmission is typically from adult-to-child not from child-to-adult:
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.11.01.20222315v1

https://www.journalofinfection.com/article/S0163-4453(21)00209-7/fulltext#relatedArticles

Bottom line: children are less susceptible to COVID-19 than adults
https://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008559

Children are not super spreaders!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
https://adc.bmj.com/content/105/7/618.info

ASYMPTOMATIC SPREAD FROM CHILDREN IS RARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As with adults, asymptomatic spread is less than 1% in secondary attack rate:
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2774102

Viral loads in children are significantly lower than in adults
https://journals.asm.org/doi/full/10.1128/JCM.02593-20

No evidence of relevant asymptomatic spread in childcare facilities
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.04.16.21255616v1

In-person learning in New York City public schools not associated with increased prevalence
https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/pediatrics/early/2021/03/05/peds.2021-050605.full.pdf

Even if there wasn't emerging data about the danger of mRNA technology and the mistake it would be to mandate mRNA shots, I'd be against it in principle.  I mentioned the Nuremberg Code above.  I think it is correct.  These are experimental meds.  They should not be mandated.  Maybe after 5 years, or maybe, if the death rate goes up I'd be interested in the conversation.  But it would still be a violation of personal autonomy and liberty to force them on a free citizen.  This is a time when My Body, My Choice is, actually, true and applicable to the situation.

Until this bizarre time in US history, safety has not trumped liberty.  If there is liberty in society it will obviously be more dangerous.  Tyranny that is motivated by a concern for my good (and my child's) is still tyranny.  And that kind of tyranny is particularly brutal because people in power can have a clear conscience while stamping out liberty and the freedom to make mistakes.  But please know, I do not think I'm making a mistake.  

I appreciate there is still a chance to voice concern.  Ideally we should be able to be free to raise our kids in the way that seems safest to us without worrying about this sort of thing.  Thank you for your time and consideration.

Tripp Stover