Teen Vaccination Splits Florida Patch Readers: Survey

FLORIDA — With the Food and Drug Administration expanding the emergency use authorization for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to include youths ages 12 to 16 earlier this month and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommending its use for this age group, Florida Patch readers are split on whether they’ll vaccinate their children against COVID-19.

While nearly 48 percent of 206 respondents to a recent Florida Patch survey said if they had children under 16, they’d consider having them vaccinated, 50 percent of those who responded said they wouldn’t. Others said they were undecided.

This number shifts a bit when taking only the opinions of Florida parents into account. Nearly 43 percent of respondents with teens ages 12 to 15 said they would have their children vaccinate. Around 39 percent of parents said they wouldn’t allow them to receive the vaccine, though, while 9 percent were undecided.

The survey is not meant to be a scientific poll, but it is only designed to give a broad idea of public sentiment.

Many who responded to Patch’s survey expressed uncertainty about the vaccine.

“Nobody knows anything about this vaccine and its long-term effects,” one respondent wrote. “More research needs to be done.”

Another reader called the vaccine “an experimental non-FDA genetically modified mess” and called for more testing.

Still, many respondents said they’ve already scheduled vaccination appointments for their teens and are eager to do their part to slow the pandemic.

“It is important for (our son) to get vaccinated so that we can all go back to normal and put this virus behind us,” one parent wrote.

“Our goal is to keep people safe. Public health requirements keep people safe. Health requirements affect the individual and the people surrounding that person. A decision to wear a seat belt, although required, affects the individual more than the people surrounding that person,” another reader wrote. “Fortunately, we have protected our school-aged children and educators and the people surrounding them with vaccines for polio, mumps, and measles. To protect individuals and the people surrounding them, vaccines for COVID-19 should be required for in-school participation.”

Respondents were further divided when asked if they would allow their children under 12 to get vaccinated if Pfizer was approved for that age group. While 40 percent of readers who responded said they wouldn’t, only about 27 percent said they would. Another 6 percent said they were undecided.

One reader said they don’t want their children “experimented on,” adding that “children are handling this virus remarkably well. However, we don’t know the long-term side effects from these new vaccines.”

Another respondent is eager to protect their children from COVID-19.

“I want my kids to be protected. With a large portion of our population refusing to get vaccinated, I have to protect my kids,” they wrote.

Most of those who responded don’t think vaccinations should be required for school attendance in the fall. Nearly 53 percent said school districts shouldn’t require students to get the COVID-19 vaccine, while nearly 39 percent think the vaccine should be mandated.

“Masks are already going to be optional, which will increase the chances of spreading COVID. If everyone in the school is vaccinated, that will lessen the spread,” one reader wrote.

Another person wrote, “We must start somewhere. Vaccines for polio, smallpox, mumps, measles, and rubella have been helped us stay safe for many decades. The data shows that the COVID-19 vaccines are working to keep us safe. We have the science; we should use it.

But many who responded expressed concerns about the vaccine’s possible effects on those inoculated.

“This vaccine has not been tested long enough and I don’t think children or adults should be the ‘test dummies.’ Every other vaccine has gone through years of testing and for that I am out,” one reader wrote. “To rush into this without know the cause and effects of this ‘vaccine’ is to be reckless. It is like playing Russian roulette with your health.”

“Religious exemptions and other health concerns mean that making the vaccination mandatory raise questions of constitutionality,” another reader said.

And another called it a “personal decision to vaccinate for such a minor virus.”