It’s anecdotal, I know, but in my limited circle of personal awareness, the risk of the COVID-19 vaccinations seems to be inversely proportional to the actual danger of the disease.  None of the elderly people I know who’ve been vaccinated have experienced side effects.  One middle-ager became infected after receiving the vaccine, and two young adults (one in college and one in high school) have experienced either seizures or fainting spells.

One possibility that might explain this outcome (assuming it’s representative) is that the vaccine may be more likely to create some reactions in people who’ve already been infected with the actual virus.  The hypothesis would be that, if older folks have (intelligently) been more cautious over the past year, they’ll be less likely to have been infected, and thus less likely to have a reaction.

Whatever the case, as schools consider mandates and the like, it’s worth remembering that, as  Brian Dunleavy’s UPI headline puts it, “Young children at low risk for COVID-19 at school, study finds.”  Couple that with Tamara Sacharczyk’s WJAR report implying that lockdowns and school closures created something like a child abuse free-for-all (that’s my interpretation, to be clear).

Speaking of child abuse, there is simply no excuse for keeping children and young adults out of school, at this point.  The virus hardly effects them.  They need the education and the social interaction.  And at the very least, one can say that they aren’t immune to reactions to the vaccines.

If the adults who work in schools are concerned, let them get vaccinated.  There’s no justification for making school attendance contingent upon vaccination, or even mask wearing.