To date, the COVID-19 vaccine has not yet been approved for individuals under 16 years of age. So, what do South Dakotans under 16 think about this. SDPB’s Lura Roti visits with them to find out.
After hearing about close friends in their 70s receiving their COVID-19 vaccine, my husband and I began visiting about how nice it will be when we and the rest of our family and friends are vaccinated against the disease. That’s when our 10-year-old daughter interrupted our conversation. “What about me?” she yelled. “When can I be protected?”
This outburst made me wonder, what do young South Dakotans think? As the adults in their lives anxiously count down the weeks until they can receive their dose to become mostly protected from COVID-19 – those under 16 still don’t know if that day will come anytime soon.
I began by asking our daughter Parker to further explain her feelings.
“Well Mom, I won’t be able to get it for like a thousand years….and I was sad because you guys would be going to do all sorts of fun stuff and I will just have to stay home,” Parker Roti says.
Up to this point, in our family, the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted Parker most because until recently, we chose to remote school her. And that’s been tough.
“I couldn’t go to school and I couldn’t see many of my friends,” Roti says.
Because she has severe asthma, 14-year-old Autumn Lacher and her parents also chose the remote school option offered by the Sioux Falls School District fall 2020. But the isolation became too much for the self-identified extrovert, so the eighth grader masked up and returned to Edison Middle School in January.
With asthma she feels as though she’s at high risk if she contracts COVID-19, so the news that she is two years too young to receive the vaccine is discouraging.
“I was definitely disappointed because I’m at the high-risk end of things. But I understand their caution because they haven’t done enough testing to make sure that it’s safe for little kids. So, I understand. But I am a little sad,” Lacher says.
Unfortunately, the medical community does not know yet when the vaccine will be available for youth under 16, explains Dr. Kara Bruning Clinical Vice President of Pediatric Services for Avera Medical Group.
“I have two kids in school as well, so I totally understand. But we’re doing our best to get those studies performed so we can vaccinate our children as well and get over this hump,” Bruning says.
“I’m just ready for things to be back to normal,” Kalei Vazquez says.
Kalei Vazquez is a high school freshman. And she would be attending Sioux Falls Roosevelt High School, but instead, because of COVID-19, she and her older sister are remote schooling.
And it was difficult for Kalei to learn that her older sister, Daleth, is eligible for the vaccine but she is not.
[3:17 Kalei Vazquez] “At first, I didn’t really understand why I couldn’t get it,” Vazquez says.
The person Vazquez is most eager to see receive the vaccine is her grandma who lives with them.
“If she gets the vaccine, I feel like there’s a less chance she’ll get it. And since she’s a little older, I’ve always been scared that if she gets it, she won’t make it,” Vazquez says.
Even after Vazquez’ grandma, parents and sister are vaccinated, to protect children and others yet to be vaccinated, Dr. Bruning says those who are vaccinated need to continue wearing masks and practice social distancing to protect those who are still waiting to receive their dose.
“Our numbers are getting better, but there’s always that chance, so everyone still has to make their own decisions right now, but at this point, we still recommend masking and social distancing,” Bruning says.
So, even after the vaccine, our lives will not bounce back to before COVID-19 times right away, but at least we can feel many times safer engaging in activities we enjoy - with masks on and socially distancing of course.