Kids under 5 deserve access to the COVID vaccine
No, you are not imagining it. Despite folks telling you to just “act normal”. Despite the loosening of mask restrictions. We ARE in a COVID spike.
For those of us who are taking all the precautions because we are immunocompromised, or live with family members who are at high risk (or maybe we just like to be safe!) it may feel like we are screaming into the wind. Nonetheless, we must all continue to raise our voices for the most vulnerable in our communities, namely our little ones. It is shocking to think that over 2 years into a pandemic, kids under 5 STILL don’t have a safe vaccine!
With that in mind, I wanted to share a letter that parent and writer Leta McCollough Seletzsky penned to her legislators advocating for COVID vaccine access for children under 5. She has generously shared it so we can do the same. (Follow her on Twitter as well.)
Write a letter to your legislator
Find your legislators email and snail mail at the following links:
Here’s the letter to send to your legislators:
“I’m one of your constituents. I never thought I‘d have to write a letter pleading for a basic tool to keep my child safe, but it seems the urgency of the moment alone has not been enough to prompt reasonable action on COVID-19 vaccines for children under five.
It’s beyond time for the FDA to make the vaccines available to these children. The numerous and well-publicized delays now surpass all logic, wisdom, and decency. Simply put, this is wrong.
I cannot fathom how the government can, on one hand, tout vaccines as the best way to prevent severe illness, hospitalization, and death, yet on the other hand, deprive tens of millions of children of this essential protection. While these delays have been explained away with the threadbare excuse of ‘caution’—or even more bafflingly, to prevent ‘confusion’ among parents—all caution is thrown to the wind as mask mandates end and new variants spread. Meanwhile, our small children cannot access vaccines we have the data to show are safe and effective.
These children are now more vulnerable than ever to infection. In fact, the CDC now reports that unvaccinated children ages five to eleven were hospitalized at twice the rate of those who were vaccinated during the winter surge.
For this reason, the CDC concluded that increasing children’s vaccine coverage is ‘critical to preventing Covid-19-associated hospitalization and severe outcomes.’
I urge you to take immediate action by every means at your disposal to push for vaccine access for children under five. There is no domestic matter more crucial than this.
Every day of delay is an additional day of needless danger for my family and those similarly situated.
I’d like to hear from you how you plan to address this untenable state of affairs.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
Feel free to customize this letter and please share it with with other families!
