Hey everyone, I hope you all had happy holidays and a nice break during the holiday season! For us, we had a great laid-back Christmas, but there was one thing that was fairly present on my mind for the majority of the time. Pfizer announced that the covid vaccine being trialed for those under 5 was ineffective at creating a sufficient immune response. This means protections for toddlers and preschoolers are being delayed until “mid 2022.” I would be lying if I said this news wasn’t incredibly hard to hear. We were originally told we would see the covid vaccine for toddlers as soon as January. I was devastated to say the least.
But why? Why am I so dead-set on our toddler receiving the “jab?” (Insert eyeroll here.) There are honestly SO MANY reasons. And that’s mainly what I wanted to talk about with this post. It’s incredibly important to me.
**ALSO, I shouldn’t have to say this, but any argumentative comments will be declined and will not ever see the light of day on this page. This is MY opinion, MY blog space, MY child. If you decide to private message me to argue about this post, you’ll be blocked, family or otherwise. Thank you for respecting my desire to not deal with negative, argumentative bullsh…**
Covid Vaccine Reason #1: I’ll Worry Less
Let’s start off by saying I have really bad anxiety anyway, but especially in regard to health issues. I’ve gone through so much regarding my health and being diagnosed with chronic health problems. Even thinking about being diagnosed with anything else causes me horrible anxiety. Keeping that in mind, I have seen so many people argue for not getting the covid vaccine by using the reasoning “but you can still get covid, so the vaccine does nothing.” Saying that the vaccine does nothing because you’re still able to get covid is far from true and shows that you don’t understand how vaccines work. Vaccines make it less likely that you’ll both get and spread diseases, and also tend to lessen negative symptoms if you do get infected. For covid specifically, it makes it less likely that you’ll be a “long-hauler” with long term symptoms.
My main concern with this virus is that our child will end up in the hospital or end up a “long-hauler.” I know how it makes me feel to have chronic health problems. It would make me feel horrible if my baby ended up with long-term health issues when I could have done something to prevent it. And while yes, statistically speaking, kids seem to be fighting this disease better than grown ups, there still ARE stories of 2 year olds on ventilators. I’ll be damned if it’s my kid. The covid vaccine is statistically shown to reduce the need to go to the hospital. I’ll do anything in my power to prevent that from happening. If I know he’s less likely to end up seriously sick with the covid vaccine, that will majorly help my nerves.
Reason #2: We’ll Be Able to See Family and Friends
Because I’m worried about our son contracting covid with this new spike in cases, we have not been having any close contact with anyone who is unvaccinated. This means that once again, we aren’t seeing certain family members, having play dates, etc. It breaks my heart that we aren’t able to go to birthdays, family events, etc. We’re also requiring anyone we come into contact with to wear masks. If there’s an event where people won’t be wearing masks, we aren’t attending.
I want to be able to let our toddler go to other people’s houses or have people visit us without worrying. I want him to be able to play with his cousins. He needs to be able to have play dates and socialization. But also… he can’t socialize if he’s in the hospital either. Getting him vaccinated will make me feel more comfortable having him in these social situations.
Family in Canada
Additionally, we have family in Canada that we haven’t seen since our son was 5 months old, 2 years ago. We can’t take him to Canada until he’s fully vaccinated because there are SO many people that want to see us. I don’t feel comfortable visiting with a ton of people within a short period of time until he’s vaccinated. Plus, Canada has rules about not being able to bring anyone unvaccinated around anyone who is immunocompromised, has any medical conditions that make them susceptible to covid, or is older than 65. There are multiple people we wouldn’t be able to see, so it’s not worth it anyway. You can find more travel info on the Government of Canada Travel Page. Once our son’s vaccinated, we can visit all of our family without worrying about these rules.
Covid Vaccine Reason #3: Travel Purposes
In addition to visiting family in Canada, we want to be able to travel. In July of 2022, we had a cruise planned through Princess Cruises to go to Alaska. However, with the news of Pfizer delaying the covid vaccine for toddlers, we will likely need to cancel our cruise. Princess Cruises, according to their Frequently Asked Questions page, is currently requiring all passengers, regardless of age, to be fully vaccinated against covid. We’re required to pay for our cruise in April. If they don’t change their policy or if our toddler can’t be vaccinated by then, we’ll have to cancel.
It’s a huge bummer to most likely have to cancel, but I get it. I would only want to be on a cruise knowing everyone else on board is vaccinated too! As I’m sure most people have seen, there have been several cruises lately being hit with covid outbreaks. I wouldn’t want to be in that situation.
We love traveling and so many places are requiring the vaccine now. Our cruise is just one example. I think it’s important for us as a family to see new sights and experience new cultures overall though. By getting our son the covid vaccine, we’re more likely to be able to travel more places. And, I’ll feel less stressed about any air or cruise travel especially. Everyone knows how it’s super easy to catch germs on a plane or cruise. I’d be more at ease knowing our kiddo wouldn’t get seriously ill during travel.
Reason 4: We Don’t Know What Underlying Health Issues Our 2 Year Old May Have
One of the biggest reasons we’re taking so many precautions is because I have autoimmune conditions as well as other conditions that predispose me to having complications from contracting covid. I have psoriatic arthritis which is an auto-immune disease. I also have asthma as well as several other conditions. Our son isn’t old enough for us to know whether or not he will inherit these issues from me or not. We don’t know if he has issues with his immune system yet like I do. Asthma is the big one that I’m worried about though.
The Likelihood of Our Son Having Asthma.
Now, we don’t know if our two year old has asthma yet. However, we can look at his risk factors for developing it. According to WebMD in their article “Risk Factors for Asthma,” up to 3 out of 5 asthma cases are hereditary. The CDC has also done studies showing that if you have a parent with asthma, you’re 3 to 6 times more likely to develop asthma. My asthma is HORRIBLE when I’m sick. Literally 9 out of 10 colds that I get go straight to my lungs and I have to take prednisone to clear them. Our toddler has only gotten sick a couple times, but he DID catch a cold right before Christmas. What we noticed was that he had a cough… and he sounded exactly like I do when I have an asthma flare up during a cold. It was terrifying!
Asthma is known as being one of the conditions that can lead to more severe covid infection. Because we know he’s predisposed to having asthma, we have to treat the covid situation as if he does have it. If he does have asthma, the vaccine can help keep him safer since he would be at higher risk for a severe case without it.
Covid Vaccine Reason #5: It Helps Keep Others Safe
This is probably the biggest reason we will be getting our 2 year old the vaccine ASAP. There are some people who legitimately cannot be vaccinated. “Personal exemptions” and “religious exemptions” are quite frankly… bullshit. No religion or branch of any religion has denounced the vaccine, including Christian Scientists, Mormons, JW, Buddhism, etc. Hell, even the pope told people to go get the vaccine.
Simply put, it’s the belief of most religions and myself that it’s our job to protect those who are unable to protect themselves. Putting others before yourself. It’s about giving those who cannot get the vaccine for legitimate reasons a helping hand. This includes infants who aren’t yet eligible for the vaccine, those whose systems are too frail to be vaccinated, those allergic to the vaccine, etc. By getting our son vaccinated, he is less likely to infect others. It’s simply doing our part.
Reason #6: I Trust Science
I trust vaccines and the science behind them. It’s clear from the fact that those who are filling hospitals and dying are the unvaccinated. The vaccines don’t keep you from getting sick at all, but they sure as hell keep you safer than you would be without one. The people designing vaccines are people who have gone through years of intense schooling and training. The vaccines go through rigorous trials to ensure those who get them are safe and that the vaccines are effective. One of the big reasons I’ll trust the vaccine when it comes out is because Pfizer refused to release it until knowing it was effective. That tells me the testing is working. Also, there has never ever ever been a non-live vaccine in history that has caused long-term side effects. I trust the science behind the vaccine.
Also, as a side note, I’ve seen some people claim that they’re concerned about myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle) from the vaccine. This is a very valid concern. However, the numbers show that children are much more likely to get myocarditis from a covid infection than they are to get it from the vaccine. The risk for myocarditis for those with covid is .146% whereas the risk of getting it from the vaccine is .004%. Do with that what you will.
Covid Vaccine Reason #7: I Want To Get Back To Normalcy
Lastly, I want to get back to normal life. I want to feel comfortable taking my kiddo to different places and seeing new people and making friends. I’m tired of having to worry that the people sitting next to us will kill my toddler if we go out to eat. I want to eventually not need to wear masks everywhere. (I probably still will in the winter since they help with my asthma.) The vaccine won’t help with that *yet*, this I know, but the hope is that eventually we won’t need to wear them. Even still, the vaccine would provide SOME sense of normalcy again since little man would be protected like my husband and I are.
Before this last spike, we were only going out in King County where the vaccine is required. Now we aren’t going anywhere because our son can’t be protected. I’ve even pulled him from in-person music classes, which felt like such a blow to my core. It was incredibly disappointing to have to take away the only opportunity he really has for socialization and something he truly enjoys. We’re still doing classes online, but I’m just so sick of covid. I just want things to feel normal again and only have to worry that we’ll end up with a cold and not something that can kill us. It is EXHAUSTING never getting a break because we have a kid that can’t be protected other than by keeping him home and away from others. The vaccine at least provides me with some reassurance in that regard.
In Conclusion:
For us, it was never a question as to whether or not we would get him the covid vaccine. We’ve been waiting and waiting and waiting for it to come out so that he could get it. But, I wanted to make it clear why exactly this is important to us. We won’t hesitate to do whatever it takes to keep our kiddo and others safe. Vaccines are safe. These vaccines are being tested so strictly for this very reason. There is a reason it has taken so long for a vaccine for the youngest members of society: to ensure it’s safe. We also want to teach our child to be considerate of the needs and safety of others. This is a non-negotiable for me. These are our values. We value science, education, safety, and the needs of others. We put others’ safety before our personal comfort.
Thanks everyone for reading and for being respectful of my opinion and our decision. You don’t have to like our choices, but I won’t be putting up with disrespect as I mentioned above. This is a firm boundary for me. Anyway, I hope this post helped shed some light on this topic. If you’re interested in seeing my other posts, feel free to follow my blog, take a peek at my other Parenting Ideas or check out any of the links down below. Stay safe!
I’m So Tired: An Exhausted Mom’s Plague Tale
A Birthday Party During Covid
