CDC must tell parents: Can unvaccinated kids reenter society?

The CDC needs to give anxious parents more clarity. And because vaccines are now readily available to adults, I would encourage the CDC to start talking about kids, with a focus on the risk to kids. Throughout the pandemic, health authorities have noted that most kids are at low risk of serious illness. But they have argued nevertheless that all kids need to take precautions to protect adults. Not to put too fine a point on it, but we have burdened our children for the sake of our society, and particularly the oldest members of our society. Now that the great majority of adults can protect themselves through vaccination, this burden no longer makes sense. The CDC should shift to child-centric advice, and it should help parents understand the risk of COVID-19 to children by comparing it to other, more familiar dangers. For example, how should parents think about the current situation relative to going out with their child during a typical flu season? Any advice here should also take into account the risk to kids from remaining isolated: mental-health costs, other physical health risks, loss of learning, and so on. And this advice should ideally be framed to help parents make their own decisions, factoring in any specific health issues facing their children or their family, and their own risk tolerance. Not every parent will make the same choice, but they need help making the ones that are right for them.