Russ's Ravings: I Have Vaccine Hesitancy When It Comes To My Kid

Editor's note: The following is Patch North Jersey Regional Manager Russ Crespolini's, hopefully, weekly column. It is reflective of his opinion alone.

This week the CDC approved the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 12 and up and at the time of this writing the Garden State is getting ready to make those inoculations happen all over New Jersey.

And I am all for it. I was thrilled to get my shot, elated to get the rest of my family theirs and am so pleased middle school and high school aged children will have the chance to knock down the pandemic and regain some normalcy.

But this news comes at the same time as children in the lower age bracket, like my 10-year-old, are being tested for the next round of approvals.

And now my previously gung-ho attitude toward getting it done has suddenly grown cold. Why? I don't know. I trusted the science for myself, for the rest of my family. I believe this newest data that it is safe for ages 12 and up and when I review the data on this next study I believe I will come to the same conclusion.

That the vaccine will be safe for my daughter.

So why the hell am I so freaked out by the prospect?

Life is about playing the odds. We exercise and diet to reduce our risk of heart disease. We chose not to smoke to avoid certain types of cancers. I've said it before, there will always be people who point to the marathon runner who died of the heart attack and the smoker who are their cigarette butts with bacon fat and lived to 102. But those are the exception, not the rule.

Whether to vaccinate is a deeply personal decision that should be forced on no one. This does not mean that I don't believe vaccinations shouldn't be necessary to participate in certain societal niceties. They absolutely should be. That is the "protect the public health" part of our guiding principles that many people gloss over when they pretend to be Constitutional experts.

The odds are overwhelming that the vaccine is safe.

And I don't think the CDC will approve its use unless it continues to prove safe. I've read plenty of COVID facts, reports and spoken to many experts over the last 15 months to know the "one famous European vaccine doctor" and Plandemic pushers offer no real counterpoint.

And yet...what if I am wrong? What is there is something this vaccine does to prepubescent that I am, and they are, unaware of? What if the odds don't play out in my favor?

How can I subject the most important person in the world to me to that risk?

Because the risk of COVID and multi systemic inflammatory syndrome is greater.

And still, I wonder. Do you?

Russ Crespolini is the North Jersey Regional Manager for Patch Media, an adjunct professor and college newspaper advisor. His columns have won awards from the National Newspaper Association and the New Jersey Press Association.

He writes them in hopes of connecting with readers and engaging with them. He can be reached at russ.crespolini@patch.com