New Poll: Only 51 Percent of Parents Eager To Vaccinate Their Children
In Canada, a poll was recently conducted by the Angus Reid Institute asked respondents, "If a COVID-19 vaccine becomes available to your child aged 5 to 11, will you get them vaccinated or not?”
51 percent said they'd do it right away. 18 percent said they'd eventually do it but would wait a little bit, while 23 percent of parents polled selected "No, I will not get a vaccine for my child(ren). The remaining 8 percent said "not sure".
What's important to note is that many mainstream media outlets fail to explain that these people and parents are not "anti-vaccine conspiracy theorists" that have been subjected to misinformation. Many of them have thought-provoking and valid points that never seem to be acknowledged within the mainstream. Why? Why are they constantly ridiculed and name-called instead of having their points taken, acknowledged, and countered? Why does the mainstream have such a hard time appropriately covering controversial topics?
This is concerning given the fact that many people receive their information from mainstream media.
So why are parents so hesitant? There are a number of reasons. For example, if infected with COVID-19, children ages 0-9 have on average a chance of 0.1% or 1/1000 of being hospitalized and, for ages 11-19, a 0.2% or 1/500 chance of being admitted to the hospital.
As of May 28, 2021, there have been 259,308 confirmed cases of SARS-CoV-2 infections in Canadians 19 years and under. Of these, 0.48% were hospitalized, 0.06% were admitted to ICU, and 0.004% died.
For children, seasonal influenza is associated with more severe illness than COVID-19. The American Academy of Pediatrics also confirmed that while the Delta variant is infecting more children, it is not causing increased disease severity. They also found that 0.1-1.9% of their child COVID-19 cases resulted in hospitalizations, and 0.00-0.03% of all child covid-19 case resulted in death.
Children have nearly a 100 percent survival rate from a COVID infection.
Meanwhile, concerns over heart-issues and the vaccine are abound.
A recent study out of the University of California shows that the risk of myocarditis is greater as a result of the vaccine than the risk of being hospitalized for COVID for boys ages 12-15.
Myocarditis is an inflammation of the heart muscle (myocardium). The inflammation can reduce your heart’s ability to pump blood. Myocarditis typically goes away without complications, but in some cases it can permanently damage your heart muscle and even lead to death.
Multiple countries in Europe have paused the moderna vaccine for people under the age of 30 because of concerns over myocarditis. In Ontario, Canada, more than 100 of Ontario's youth have been sent to the hospital for vaccine related heart issues.
Eric T. Payne, MD, MPH, FRCP(C), Pediatric Neurocritical Care & Epilepsy, Alberta Children’s Hospital, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics & Neurology, at the University of Calgary put out a very educational document for those who are trying to understand and want to dig a little deeper into the concerns around these vaccines.
Vaccine hesitancy prior to the pandemic, even among many healthcare workers and physicians, was already quite high. We've seen the same hesitancy during the COVID pandemic, and many healthcare workers are now losing their jobs as a result, even if they are in a large minority. Measures like vaccine passports as a requirement for several freedoms have indeed coerced those who were somewhat hesitant to go ahead and get the jab.
However when it comes to people and their children there may be more of a push back to protect them.
Check out a recently published article regarding three science-based reasons why many parents don't want to vaccinate their children, that goes more in depth.