Based on the best available data, no child under the age of 18 should be forced to vaccinate! Based on population data gathered from the US Census Bureau there are roughly 1,015,448 children in the 0-9 age group and roughly 1,085,868 children in the 10-19 age group. Based on data obtained from the Virginia Department of Health1 the following statistics were found to be true:
1. Deaths by age group:
a. 0-9:
i. Total deaths: 1
ii. Death by % of age population: 0.00010%
b. 10-19:
i. Total deaths: 2
ii. Death by % of age population: 0.00018%
2. Hospitalizations by age group:
a. 0-9:
i. Total Hospitalizations: 72
ii. Hospitalizations by % of age population: 0.00709%
b. 10-19:
i. Total Hospitalizations: 62
ii. Hospitalizations by % of age population: 0.00571%
3. Cases by age group:
a. 0-9:
i. Total Cases: 10,509
ii. Cases by % of age population: 1.03491%
b. 10-19:
i. Total Cases: 6,973
ii. Cases by % of age population: 0.64216%
Some will argue that other vaccines are mandated for entrance into schools. While there are a growing number of vaccines required for entrance into school, they can all be waived for religious exemptions or for medical reasons. There are several vaccines that far more grave effects on this age group (0-19) than COVID-19.
1. Diphtheria, Tetanus, & Pertussis (DTaP, DTP, or Tdap)
a. Infection complications2
i. Babies and Children
1. 1 out of 4 (23%) get pneumonia (lung infection)
2. 1 out of 100 (1.1%) will have convulsions (violent, uncontrolled shaking)
3. 3 out of 5 (61%) will have apnea (slowed or stopped breathing)
4. 1 out of 300 (0.3%) will have encephalopathy (disease of the brain)
5. 1 out of 100 (1%) will die
ii. Teens and Adults
1. Weight loss in 1 out of 3 (33%) adults
2. Loss of bladder control in 1 out of 3 (28%) adults
3. Passing out in 3 out of 50 (6%) adults
4. Rib fractures from severe coughing in 1 out of 25 (4%) adults
2. Meningococcal Conjugate (MenACWY) Vaccine
a. Infection complications3
i. Even with antibiotic treatment, 10 to 15 in 100 people infected with meningococcal disease will die. Up to 1 in 5 survivors will have long-term disabilities, such as loss of limb(s), deafness, nervous system problems, or brain damage.
3. Measles, Mumps, & Rubella (MMR) Vaccine
a. Infection complications4
i. Measles causes fever, rash, cough, runny nose, and red, watery eyes. Complications can include ear infection, diarrhea, pneumonia, brain damage, and death.
ii. Mumps causes fever, headache, muscle aches, tiredness, loss of appetite, and swollen salivary glands. Complications can include swelling of the testicles or ovaries, deafness, inflammation of the brain and/or tissue covering the brain and spinal cord (encephalitis/meningitis) and, rarely, death.
iii. Rubella, causes fever, sore throat, rash, headache, and red, itchy eyes. If a woman gets rubella while she is pregnant, she could have a miscarriage or her baby could be born with serious birth defects.
4. Polio (IPV) Vaccine
a. Infection complications5
i. Paralytic polio can lead to temporary or permanent muscle paralysis, disability, bone deformities and death.
5. COVID-19
a. Infection complications6
i. Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) is a condition where different body parts can become inflamed, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes, or gastrointestinal organs. We do not yet know what causes MIS-C. However, we know that many children with MIS-C had the virus that causes COVID-19, or had been around someone with COVID-19. MIS-C can be serious, even deadly, but most children who were diagnosed with this condition have gotten better with medical care.
ii. MIS-C in VA7: 50-99
iii. % MIS-C in all Child COVID Cases: 0.28601% - 0.56630%
As you can see by the infection complications, some of the vaccines that are currently mandated are addressing much more serious and long-lasting health effects particular to children. We do not know what the long-term effect of COVID will be on children, nor do we know what the long-term effects of the COVID vaccines will be either. For a virus that does not have significant fatality and hospitalization rates for school-age children and does not appear to have significant long-term effects for most of the age groups population, I would say there is no way this should become mandated.
It can be argued that children should be vaccinated to protect those around them. This is the beauty of the United States of America and the fact that our founding fathers understood that we all have free will. Should anyone truly fear for their child and the effects of COVID, they have the free will to do what is best for their family. They can choose to get their child over the age of 12 vaccinated if they want, they can have their child wear KN-95 masks, they can even choose to home school their child if they don’t want. The bottom line is we all have the free will to make the choices that are best for our families. If this vaccine is mandated that free will is being taken away.
There is no data to support using experimental vaccines that have significant side effects, particularly for boys under the age of 30, eradicating the foundation our country was founded on and imposing the will of the government on the people they should be answering to. Should Virginia choose to mandate a COVID vaccine on my children and the children of the Commonwealth, it will be my families chose to take our jobs, our tax base and our discretionary income to a state that does hold the foundation of our country in higher esteem.
1 https://data.virginia.gov/Government/VDH-COVID-19-PublicUseDataset-Cases_By-Age-Group/uktn-mwig
2 https://www.cdc.gov/pertussis/about/complications.html
3 https://www.cdc.gov/meningococcal/about/diagnosis-treatment.html
4 https://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/vaccines/mmr-vaccine.html
5 https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/polio/symptoms-causes/syc-20376512
6 https://www.cdc.gov/mis/mis-c.html
7 https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#mis-national-surveillance