Why Children Should be Vaccinated before Schools Fully Reopen

 Authored by Nadine Assi

Children all over America are learning how to adapt to online learning due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It has currently been about over a year since this pandemic spread throughout the U.S. causing drastic quarantining, social distancing, and schools closing. The youth of this country have been forced to leave their classrooms and stay at home to learn. These kids are now caught up in learning how to attend online zoom classes while struggling to stay attentive from their families or lack of technology/Wi-Fi within the household. With all of this said, what is the best option for the children of America? To get back in the classrooms. But it is not safe for schools to be at full capacity again unless everyone is vaccinated- including those under 16 years of age.

Being in a classroom, or any room in fact, can actually affect how Covid-19 is spread in the air. The difference in being outside versus being inside is the level of carbon dioxide in the air. This relationship is referred to as “differential carbon dioxide” and can roughly calibrate the potential for transmission of Covid-19 within a school. Although it is encouraged everywhere to keep windows of buildings open and constantly keep air circulating, there are older school buildings that could possibly not have the best quality air/heating to constantly keep it flowing. For example, my own high school did not install air conditioning until my junior year back in 2019 and that school was opened all the way back in 1966. There is just no guarantee that every single school is able to do the best that they can to stop the spread in the air.

There is also the big issue of eating in school. To eat, what do you have to do? Take off your mask. Let’s say children are spaced out with screens on their tables/desks as they eat in school. They’re social distancing which is what is highly recommended and encouraged. But they are still in the same room with the carbon dioxide around them spreading the pandemic. On average to effectively transmit Covid-19 to another person through the air, you have to be in range of them for a constant fifteen minutes. Lunch periods or even just snack times can range from 20- 45 minutes depending on what grade they are in. That is more than enough time of being in the same room as someone else without any masks on to spread Covid-19. Plus to top it off children like everyone else can cough or sneeze while they are eating which puts even more germ and bacteria filled mucus droplets into the air.

These examples are just a few instances of how easily children can spread Covid-19 and why they must be vaccinated for schools to fully reopen. It is the only way to ensure parents that their children will not be in danger every day when they attend school. It will also give children their overall school-life experience back again. The youth of America cannot have their safety guaranteed until the effective vaccine is tested and administered to those under the age of 16.