COVID Immunization For A Teenager

[wenrob]

Several thoughts:
- I suspect you're stretching /overstating the disagreement about a vaccine. I haven't heard anyone saying they have major fights in their house about the vaccine.
- I suspect that in August/September the school system will make this decision for teens /will require the vaccine.
Yes, I know a couple people personally who've been dealing with very, very serious complications from Covid for months. A couple things my RN daughter says about Covid:

- Men are more likely to die from Covid, whereas women are more likely to get "Long Covid", meaning long-term complications. I'm not sure who gets the worse end of that deal.
- It seems that the people I know personally have had a wide variety of (short term) reactions to the second vaccine shot. Health care pros have a theory that the worse your reaction to the shot, the worse your Covid would have been. Personally, I was quite sick for about 7 hours after taking the vaccine, so I suspect that Covid would've been bad for me.
Agree. This "experimental fear" is not based in science.
I missed that we're discussing a "super high risk" child. Yeah, if the child is ABLE to take the vaccine /if the doctor recommends it, that child NEEDS to take it.
I'm with you.
My team teaches a unit about internet safety, and we have one GREAT article about "who's most likely to fall for what kind of scheme". Young people fall for a greater variety of schemes -- young people are more likely to be scammed in small ways /usually making poor choices in online purchases, and they have more trouble identifying "fake news". We have a group activity in which the students read/discuss 6 pieces of "news" -- most groups get 2 of the 6 right. Older people tend to fall for fewer schemes, but when they are scammed they tend to lose more money (maybe because they have more money?) Young people are more likely to fall for "fake checks" -- I get those at my house a couple times a year and have been sure to show them to my kids. People past middle-age are more likely to fall for love-based schemes (i.e., I'd love to come meet you, but my finances are tied up right now, will you help me buy a plane ticket?). One of my high school seniors last year shared an experience he had just had: he made a mistake buying something from Amazon /called a fake number trying to get a refund /believed them when they said he should go to the gas station and buy any $50 gift card ... you can guess where this story's going. A classmate jumped in and admitted that his parents were going to buy him a dog for his birthday, and he was so excited because he'd found a very inexpensive puppy online -- his parents helped him see that the site was a rip-off; once they pointed out a couple things, he understood.

And confirmation bias -- looking for evidence to back up what we already believe -- has a strong pull.
I know things vary from place to place, but here the vaccine was very "slow" to arrive, and even people in the first groups were having trouble getting appointments -- but now that things are rolling, the vaccine seems to be available in greater numbers. I really think teens will be able to get the vaccine before school starts in the fall.
My chance to get the shot came suddenly and unexpectedly. I didn't ask ANYTHING about which vaccine -- I just jumped in my car and drove as fast as I could.

My daughter -- again, who is an RN -- says she believes Moderna is the slightly better product, but you should go for the one you can get!

Mine won’t be sixteen until the end of November. The way things are rolling now I would not be at all surprised if we’re able to just walk in and ask for them at that point. My hope is approval for younger will happen before then so they can be vaccinated before school starts again.

 

[MrsPete]

Mine won’t be sixteen until the end of November. The way things are rolling now I would not be at all surprised if we’re able to just walk in and ask for them at that point. My hope is approval for younger will happen before then so they can be vaccinated before school starts again.

Yes, that sounds like what we're seeing in our area -- but that doesn't mean it's the same everywhere.

I predict we'll start hearing LOTS about kids and vaccines in summer.

I wish we could know what's going to happen with school next fall. Personally, I think one of the hardest part of this situation is that we don't know where we're headed. Most of us can deal with this-or-that problem if we know the rules /know, for example, how long things are going to last. We haven't had that luxury for the last year.

 

[wenrob]

I wonder how much you've experienced with outside the youths you know. A lot of what you are talking about is more old school stuff. You're right that love schemes are something middle aged people do fall for but that seems to be the minority now in favor of what we've had a lot of which is more politically driven. I really can't go too far into it because of the Boards but maybe it takes one to know one because the sheer amount of 'fake news' talk, the sheer amount of utter crap people believe are overwhelmingly older people these days. I suspect Colleen27 is onto something with pre-technology stuff as in they grew up under a different time period and are more susceptible to the ways of social media and how quickly things get out of control on the internet. My mother-in-law (65) is one of these and surprisingly with a journalism degree. It's like she's up and forgotten how to look for bias, how to critically think, how to fact check. Get her on social media and she's lost her dang mind. Just last night my husband (32) was telling me how he was having another one of his what I call "fb wars" with his mom over something she sent him, he fact checked it, sent it back to her, she says "oh honey you just don't understand" (because apparently facts equate to him just not knowing the ways of the world), she goes on a rant, etc. And there's more people just like her walking around daily.

I don't think people are disagreeing that youths do fall for stuff because of their inexperience and how their brains work but multiple of us posters are disagreeing with the whole 'fake news' bit. And in the context of this vaccine fake news and conspiracy theories rule. A fake ad for buying a puppy online does not equate to thinking bill gates is chipping you.

Yes, this. It’s not “scams” we’re talking about. For me it’s my stepmother. This is not the women who raised me. THE person who taught me how to smell a falsehood from a mile away and to always, ALWAYS look into things. “If it seems shady it probably is.” I seriously do not know who this person is anymore. I refuse to engage. Just won’t do it.

And totally OT but when I got my appointment I posted to FB I made my appointment to get my microchip.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

And totally OT but when I got my appointment I posted to FB I made my appointment to get my microchip.

oohh I like the way you think

 

[Nicolepa]

I am appalled to hear that your "super high risk" child is turning her nose up at something that has a good chance of allowing her to avoid a future Covid infection that could very well not be mild next time. Immunity from the vaccines far outperforms natural immunity. If she had Covid in January, she has maybe a month or two more of natural protection. The virus won't be gone by then. The fact that she had a mild infection means her immunity will be short lived.

So you think that her entire team of Dr.'s are wrong? I will be sure to have her tell them that they are wrong. Thanks.

 

[DLgal]

So you think that her entire team of Dr.'s are wrong? I will be sure to have her tell them that they are wrong. Thanks.

So her doctors are telling her not to get the vaccine? Does she have contraindications for vaccination? In that case, it isn't really her choosing to not get the vaccine, which is what you implied. If she is allergic or has had other serious vaccine adverse affects in the past, then caution is definitely warranted.

If she is high risk for Covid and her doctors are telling her not to get vaccinated, then yes, her entire team appears to be wrong. I'd personally run far away from any doctors who are opposed to vaccines.

 

[KingAugie]

My ds is 17 and is getting his vaccine in less than a week. He works in a grocery store so he has been eligible for quite some time but was in no rush to get it. I left the decision up to him, he has had a couple friends his age end up in the hospital with COVID this year (thankfully they are OK now) so I think that influenced his decision.
I'm not sure if there is a set age but I do think older teens should be allowed to make decisions about what happens to their own bodies. I would never force my 17 year old to get the vaccine, and I would never demand his answer for not wanting/doing meet some criteria that I set for him.
If I wanted him to do it and he didn't, I'd give him my advice and opinion on why he should but ultimately it would be his decision.

 

[ten6mom]

I'm late to this but someone in another thread mentioned this one so I'm glad I found it.

I went back and forth on the vaccine for myself but ultimately decided to get it- and the final piece that tipped me to that side was that I am well beyond child-bearing age and that any potential long-term effect might not even materialize before I die.

My older son is almost 17, and is eligible in this state. His father and I (divorced) are deciding, with his input, whether he should get it or not. There is no way to know about any potential long term effects of the vaccine. Would it matter to him, 10 years from now, if, for example, it is discovered that the vaccine affected one's ability to have children?

We live in a part of Arizona that is pretty "open"- all business are open, schools in our part of town have been open in-person since October, and we were able to hold some band events this past fall and are finishing up our winter indoor season this coming Saturday. So he's been able to pretty much do everything he wants to do, because of our geography. I imagine if his being vaccinated would have a "visible" benefit (i.e. he'd be able to more things if vaccinated than if not) then our decision would be easier.

I am the only one in my household currently vaccinated- my husband will likely not, my stepson, newly eligible, will likely not (although I am curious how his mother feels about it), and my younger son is not old enough yet so at the moment it's moot.

My parents are, but then they never stopped seeing my kids even beforehand, so it's not an issue for them personally.

I don't know. It's not an easy decision for us.

 

[msjprincess]

My 16 and 17 year old both get their first shot next week.

 

[jrmasm]

My 17 year old happily got her first dose yesterday.

 

[piglet1979]

I'm late to this but someone in another thread mentioned this one so I'm glad I found it.

I went back and forth on the vaccine for myself but ultimately decided to get it- and the final piece that tipped me to that side was that I am well beyond child-bearing age and that any potential long-term effect might not even materialize before I die.

My older son is almost 17, and is eligible in this state. His father and I (divorced) are deciding, with his input, whether he should get it or not. There is no way to know about any potential long term effects of the vaccine. Would it matter to him, 10 years from now, if, for example, it is discovered that the vaccine affected one's ability to have children?

We live in a part of Arizona that is pretty "open"- all business are open, schools in our part of town have been open in-person since October, and we were able to hold some band events this past fall and are finishing up our winter indoor season this coming Saturday. So he's been able to pretty much do everything he wants to do, because of our geography. I imagine if his being vaccinated would have a "visible" benefit (i.e. he'd be able to more things if vaccinated than if not) then our decision would be easier.

I am the only one in my household currently vaccinated- my husband will likely not, my stepson, newly eligible, will likely not (although I am curious how his mother feels about it), and my younger son is not old enough yet so at the moment it's moot.

My parents are, but then they never stopped seeing my kids even beforehand, so it's not an issue for them personally.

I don't know. It's not an easy decision for us.

I completely understand. DH and I are both vaccinated but the kids are not. They are too young at the moment. They are 13 and 15. DH and I go back and fourth and if they should get it. We are just worried about long term affects and more so if it will effect being able to have kids in the future. We have a lot to think about.

 

[4luv2cdisney]

I started letting my kids have input on their medical / health care pretty early. In the beginning it was really minor like, "Do you think we should just put a bandaid on that or go to the doctor?" Obviously, I had final say up until probably 16-17. By that age, I was offering to sit outside the room at doctors appointments in case they wanted to discuss anything with the doctor that they didn't want me to hear.

Kids don't suddenly know how to decide for themselves the day of their 18th birthday. I suppose if I strongly disagreed or they were being really stupid, I could have somehow "forced" them, but thankfully I have never even had to ground my kids. They almost always make the same choices I would have made for them.

I consider myself pro vaccine. I did opt for my 1st daughter to NOT get the OPV. Our doctor kind of made me feel like a monster for making her take another needle instead of a liquid. By the time daughter #2 needed the polio vaccine, they no longer offered OPV and I was feeling pretty good about myself! lol Then, I remember when the HPV vaccine came out - it was quite new when my daughter was initially eligible. We discussed it and I was comfortable waiting a couple of years unless she really wanted it. We renewed our conversation on it every year. She ended up getting her HPV shots late in college. My 19 year old is going to get hers this year.

So, do I have concerns about a brand new "rushed out the door" vaccine? Yep. Did we all get it? Yep. If my kids were only 16-17 it still would have been their choice and I know they would have gotten it because I got them on the same page as me with this stuff early in life by talking things through and teaching them to be responsible and learning how to rationalize in their own decisions.

 

[TwoMisfits]

My middle kids are on board getting Pfizer this summer when they approve it. Thanks to travel, we'll probably give a month to see what shakes out before we sign them up, but we're planning on getting this done before fall when choir requirements and jr/sr high school requirements might make them do it anyway...my young adult already got dose #1, and gets dose #2 on Thursday, so she's set for any last minute college requirement...

 

[RamblingMad]

FWIW, it seems just the opposite around me. Elem/middle schoolers (social media newbies) and the pre-tech generations are the worst for believing things from dubious sources, IME. It is a recurring conversation with my 12yo about the half-truths and good stories that are entirely false that you come across on YouTube and TikTok, but as far as outright fake news, I hear a LOT more of that from my parents and from DH's 50-something technophobe friends (who don't seem to understand the wild-west nature of internet publishing) than from my teens/young adults. They grew up/are growing up with lessons on evaluating the reliability of sources as part of their middle and high school classes, and mine at least were all asked to take and defend a position on the Wiki debate (which seems to be a common media literacy lesson in our neck of the woods), so they're more conscious of the various motivations of internet content producers than older generations.

Sky News runs a segment on Saturday mornings, where kids have to pick from a couple of stories, which ones are true. I grew up learning about methods advertisers use to persuade. This generation has to detect misinformation. I think this is much harder. Check out the book: Thinking Fast, Thinking Slow.