Experts in This Article
Jessica Malaty Rivera, MS is an infectious disease epidemiologist and microbiologist.
She is the science communication lead at The COVID Tracking Project.
You cant be basically vaccinated.
Youre either vaccinated or youre not, Rivera tells Well+Good.
We know that kids can get the virus.
We know that kids can transmit the virus.
Jessica Malaty Rivera, MS is an infectious disease epidemiologist and microbiologist. She is the science communication lead at The COVID Tracking Project.
Its also too early to assume thatherd immunitywill protect unvaccinated children.
In every calculation of herd immunity, the pediatric population is considered, says Rivera.
Herd immunity will be reached when more than 70 percent of the population is covered.
But Rivera says its not that simple.
Kids can be asymptomatic carriers and they can be symptomatic carriers, too says Rivera.
They can bring it home from school to infect their families.
Riveras scientific assessment doesnt mean you cant go anywhere with your kids this summer.
But your risk calculation should be based on science.
I am not trying to tell parents, you cannot do XYZ.
Everything has to be about risk mitigation, says Rivera.
Theyre going to enroll almost 7,000 participants from six months and up.
And that could mean that we start seeing really rich data by the winter of this year, hopefully.
So, its not like they have been forgotten.
Nobody is saying we cant do anything until the kids are vaccinated.
Were saying we need to be very vigilant.
We have variants circulating.
The adult population is not nearly vaccinated enough yet.
So, lets just stay the coursewell get there.
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