Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think some of you misunderstand how vaccines are used as a public health tool. They are supposed to drive down community transition , not ensure that each and every individual is protected from a disease. And they are doing a great job. As pp’s have noted, community transmission is almost nil in parts of our region. Any further rules and measures should be driven by community transmission rates.

This, and I'm frustrated that public officials are not discussing this more aggressively. Talk to most epidemiologists and they will tell you that we use widespread vaccination to prove umbrella protection for individuals who cannot vaccinate all the time. Everyone I know works in this side of medicine agrees that if most parents are vaccinated and most teachers are vaccinated, the risk to young kids (which already appears to be lower than for most adults) will fall to a level that you simply could not justify any restrictions on in-person school.

And yes, I also know many doctors and medical researchers who are skeptical we will see vaccine approval, especially of mRNA vaccines, this year for young kids. Many I have spoken to do not think the FDA would issue an emergency approval as they have for adults. That's partly because case rates will have fallen so low by the time the question is raised that there will be no emergency to address. But it's also because the factors considered in pediatric vaccine approvals are a little different than those for adults, and you'd need to show an imminent public health threat posed by failure to vaccinate, and it's just not clear one exists. Keep in mind that there were committee members who voted against the 16+ emergency approval because they did not believe the cost-benefit analysis worked or the 16-18 age group. The younger you go, the more concerns will be raised.

There is gonna be a mask requirement. You may as well get over it now.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think some of you misunderstand how vaccines are used as a public health tool. They are supposed to drive down community transition , not ensure that each and every individual is protected from a disease. And they are doing a great job. As pp’s have noted, community transmission is almost nil in parts of our region. Any further rules and measures should be driven by community transmission rates.

This, and I'm frustrated that public officials are not discussing this more aggressively. Talk to most epidemiologists and they will tell you that we use widespread vaccination to prove umbrella protection for individuals who cannot vaccinate all the time. Everyone I know works in this side of medicine agrees that if most parents are vaccinated and most teachers are vaccinated, the risk to young kids (which already appears to be lower than for most adults) will fall to a level that you simply could not justify any restrictions on in-person school.

And yes, I also know many doctors and medical researchers who are skeptical we will see vaccine approval, especially of mRNA vaccines, this year for young kids. Many I have spoken to do not think the FDA would issue an emergency approval as they have for adults. That's partly because case rates will have fallen so low by the time the question is raised that there will be no emergency to address. But it's also because the factors considered in pediatric vaccine approvals are a little different than those for adults, and you'd need to show an imminent public health threat posed by failure to vaccinate, and it's just not clear one exists. Keep in mind that there were committee members who voted against the 16+ emergency approval because they did not believe the cost-benefit analysis worked or the 16-18 age group. The younger you go, the more concerns will be raised.

Anonymous wrote:I think some of you misunderstand how vaccines are used as a public health tool. They are supposed to drive down community transition , not ensure that each and every individual is protected from a disease. And they are doing a great job. As pp’s have noted, community transmission is almost nil in parts of our region. Any further rules and measures should be driven by community transmission rates.

Anonymous wrote:
In less than a month, there will be no rational, logical reason to keep any remaining measures in place. By the time school starts in the fall, there won't even be a need to require kids to be vaccinated.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think some of you misunderstand how vaccines are used as a public health tool. They are supposed to drive down community transition , not ensure that each and every individual is protected from a disease. And they are doing a great job. As pp’s have noted, community transmission is almost nil in parts of our region. Any further rules and measures should be driven by community transmission rates.

In less than a month, there will be no rational, logical reason to keep any remaining measures in place. By the time school starts in the fall, there won't even be a need to require kids to be vaccinated.

Exactly. Many doubt that the vaccine will ever be approved for little kids because the risk of vaccinating kids may quickly become greater than any risk they have from Covid.

Let's say the risk of them dying from Covid becomes 1:2,000,000. The risk of them dying from Covid vaccination could be 1:1,000,000. The FDA is not going to approve this.
It will be interesting to see what happens.

What medical professionals doubt the vaccine will be approved?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think some of you misunderstand how vaccines are used as a public health tool. They are supposed to drive down community transition , not ensure that each and every individual is protected from a disease. And they are doing a great job. As pp’s have noted, community transmission is almost nil in parts of our region. Any further rules and measures should be driven by community transmission rates.

In less than a month, there will be no rational, logical reason to keep any remaining measures in place. By the time school starts in the fall, there won't even be a need to require kids to be vaccinated.

Exactly. Many doubt that the vaccine will ever be approved for little kids because the risk of vaccinating kids may quickly become greater than any risk they have from Covid.

Let's say the risk of them dying from Covid becomes 1:2,000,000. The risk of them dying from Covid vaccination could be 1:1,000,000. The FDA is not going to approve this.
It will be interesting to see what happens.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think some of you misunderstand how vaccines are used as a public health tool. They are supposed to drive down community transition , not ensure that each and every individual is protected from a disease. And they are doing a great job. As pp’s have noted, community transmission is almost nil in parts of our region. Any further rules and measures should be driven by community transmission rates.

In less than a month, there will be no rational, logical reason to keep any remaining measures in place. By the time school starts in the fall, there won't even be a need to require kids to be vaccinated.

Anonymous wrote:I think some of you misunderstand how vaccines are used as a public health tool. They are supposed to drive down community transition , not ensure that each and every individual is protected from a disease. And they are doing a great job. As pp’s have noted, community transmission is almost nil in parts of our region. Any further rules and measures should be driven by community transmission rates.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one cares about your child's health. It will be back to normal with no distancing and probably no masks.

Good. That would in fact be a recognition of respect for the science about children's health: they are extremely low risk for COVID, aren't the cause of significant community transmission, and with vaccination open to anyone age 12 and up, no longer pose a significant threat to adults either. They should have been back in school full time many, many months ago, as they have been in most parts of the country.

What does show a lack of concern for children's education, as well as their emotional, mental, and physical health, are outdated and unscientific policies that would require social distancing or cohort restrictions or half days or COVID-theater "deep cleaning" in the fall -- the very policies the incompetent Bowser, Ferebee, and the teachers unions have embraced for more than a year.

Exactly, our little kids sat at home, struggling to learn, for months on end for no good reason. If we were daunted, you can bet that low-income families had a much harder time. Life is full of risks and we can't eliminate each one of them by hiding at home. Some of our neighbors and friends with kids in private and parochial elementary schools didn't have to supervise virtual learning at all - their kids attended school full-time throughout the pandemic without difficulty, including in smallish classrooms with two dozen kids. Same story for good friends in Europe. Their children attended government schools in classroom with open windows, and in public parks, even during the worst of the pandemic. Nothing bad happened as a result.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes it will be back to normal. Cases are single digits in moco and nova. Dc can’t be far behind but the black folks really need to get vaccinated. Fair fax county had one case today. Over a million people. Get it through your thick scull. It will be “safe” in the fall. It’s safe now.

This is why. There is literally next to no Covid in the community anymore and there will be less in the fall. There will be far more flu circling around AND the flu is far deadlier to kids.

This. People are so insane about covid they aren’t paying any attention to science. Covid is not a big deal for kids. Flu is more dangerous and for many years we’ve still been ok with it.

Actually some of the new variants showing up in other countries are a big deal to kids and basic science says masks can help prevent covid and the flu. Kids can get and spread covid.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one cares about your child's health. It will be back to normal with no distancing and probably no masks.

Good. That would in fact be a recognition of respect for the science about children's health: they are extremely low risk for COVID, aren't the cause of significant community transmission, and with vaccination open to anyone age 12 and up, no longer pose a significant threat to adults either. They should have been back in school full time many, many months ago, as they have been in most parts of the country.

What does show a lack of concern for children's education, as well as their emotional, mental, and physical health, are outdated and unscientific policies that would require social distancing or cohort restrictions or half days or COVID-theater "deep cleaning" in the fall -- the very policies the incompetent Bowser, Ferebee, and the teachers unions have embraced for more than a year.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes it will be back to normal. Cases are single digits in moco and nova. Dc can’t be far behind but the black folks really need to get vaccinated. Fair fax county had one case today. Over a million people. Get it through your thick scull. It will be “safe” in the fall. It’s safe now.

This is why. There is literally next to no Covid in the community anymore and there will be less in the fall. There will be far more flu circling around AND the flu is far deadlier to kids.

This. People are so insane about covid they aren’t paying any attention to science. Covid is not a big deal for kids. Flu is more dangerous and for many years we’ve still been ok with it.