Staying home ain’t too cool:
Young people and the COVID-19 vaccine
“They should have let all the children back in school long time.”
“I’m concerned because my child is vaccinated but plenty other students are not.”
“I’m excited to be back in school with my friends!”
As more Form 4-6 students returned to school, the debate around vaccination intensified. Although vaccines have helped us to safely control diseases such as measles and yellow fever, vaccination of children and young people now appears to be a divisive subject.
Historically, this was not a contentious issue. For instance, during the local polio outbreak in 1972, government-led vaccination in schools was an accepted solution. In that year, the authorities gave oral vaccines to control the disease.
In 2021, the COVID-19 vaccine is one of the main ways to bring this current pandemic under control. Notably, the technology behind the vaccine is not new. Messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines teach our cells how to create proteins that enhance the performance of our immune system. Scientists have been studying mRNA technology for decades, but the study and testing of a vaccine are costly. Through global financing, scientists developed the vaccine relatively quickly.
Mammy, I want to go back to school
“Mammy, mammy, I want to go back to school/Mammy, mammy staying home ain’t too cool.” The well-known calypso by Bill Trotman echoes the right of every child to education as recognised by the UN. Unfortunately, according to PAHO, almost two million children and adolescents have been infected by COVID-19 in our region, impacting their ability to attend school.
The WHO approved the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine for young people 12 – 18 years old. While it is true that vaccines do not stop the disease from spreading, as we proved in ’72, vaccination can protect from severe illness, hospitalisation and death. Vaccinated persons are also less likely to spread the disease if they become infected. Vaccination is therefore critical given the presence of the highly infectious Delta variant. The COVID-19 vaccine protects not only the person who has received it, but the wider community.
Seventy years ago, vaccines saved lives in T&T. Today, they can still help to make our schools safer and Mammy, that is cool.
Vaccinate today....live tomorrow!
Did you know?
- mRNA vaccines do not introduce the COVID-19 virus into our bodies
- Our body breaks down mRNA and gets rid of it a few days after vaccination
- These vaccines never interact with our DNA (genetic material) cells so they cannot alter our DNA in any way
