Children and Covid
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Version 0 of 1. For American adults, the conclusion of the pandemic appears to be on the horizon. The end of summer 2021 has been earmarked as the time by which most adults will be vaccinated. But still remaining is the often-overlooked question of vaccinations for children. As we understand it, younger children do not fall ill with the coronavirus at the same rate as adults, nor do they transmit the disease in the same way (they are thought to spread the disease around half as efficiently). However, without the immunization of children, herd immunity — which, according to scientists, will be achieved with 80 percent of the population vaccinated — cannot be reached. Today, we ask when America’s children will be vaccinated. Pfizer and Moderna have begun testing their vaccines on children 12 and older. A vaccine for children is coming, but not for many months. New research has cast doubt on the idea that prior infections with garden-variety coronaviruses might shield some people, particularly children, from the pandemic. There are a lot of ways to listen to The Daily. Here’s how. Transcripts of each episode are available by the next workday. You can find them at the top of the page. Apoorva Mandavilli contributed reporting. The Daily is made by Theo Balcomb, Lisa Tobin, Rachel Quester, Lynsea Garrison, Annie Brown, Clare Toeniskoetter, Paige Cowett, Michael Simon Johnson, Brad Fisher, Larissa Anderson, Wendy Dorr, Chris Wood, Jessica Cheung, Stella Tan, Alexandra Leigh Young, Lisa Chow, Eric Krupke, Marc Georges, Luke Vander Ploeg, Sindhu Gnanasambandan, M.J. Davis Lin, Austin Mitchell, Neena Pathak, Dan Powell, Dave Shaw, Sydney Harper, Daniel Guillemette, Hans Buetow, Robert Jimison, Mike Benoist, Bianca Giaever, Liz O. Baylen, Asthaa Chaturvedi, Rachelle Bonja, Alix Spiegel, Diana Nguyen, Marion Lozano and Soraya Shockley. Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsverk of Wonderly. Special thanks to Sam Dolnick, Mikayla Bouchard, Lauren Jackson, Julia Simon, Mahima Chablani, Nora Keller, Sofia Milan, Desiree Ibekwe, Laura Kim, Erica Futterman and Shreeya Sinha. |