Vaccinating Children Against Covid-19
Should we be protecting kids from coronavirus infections?
Covid-19 vaccines are amazing. They have turned what were enormous, horrific epidemics in country after country into manageable problems. Places like the US, UK, Israel, and others, which were until recently speeding headfirst off a cliff, are now celebrating as cases drop and people can finally let go of some of that pandemic anxiety that’s been going around.
As the vaccine rollout continues, however, there are two big important questions remaining: who should our vaccines be going to, and should we vaccinate children against Covid-19? The first question concerns vaccine equity — should rich nations be donating large proportions of their vaccines to poorer countries to assist with the global fight against Covid-19 (answer: yes, obviously).
The second question is related to the first, but is incredibly contentious. While it’s trivially obvious that rich countries should shoulder more of the burden of global health than they do, the question of whether we should vaccinate children — either now or at all — against the coronavirus is hotly debated, especially now that…
