I'm a pediatrician. Get your child vaccinated.

Let me address those concerns one by one. Children 12 to 15 and even younger are at lower risk than older people of a serious case of COVID-19, that’s true. The great majority of people who have needed intensive care are adults. But according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, more than 300 children in this country have died over the course of the pandemic. As a comparison, the CDC reported 188 flu-related deaths in children during the 2019–20 flu season. And the CDC has now recorded more than 3,700 cases of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, or MIS-C, a serious condition associated with COVID-19. Children now account for more than 22 percent of all new COVID-19 cases, and even those children who aren’t very sick may have to deal with possible long-term complications. At the very least, those who test positive for the virus but are asymptomatic will still have to go through the hassle of quarantine. Compare all of those factors with what a vaccinated child may experience: brief acute reactions, including pain at the injection site, tiredness, fever, chills, and muscle aches—all signs of the immune system being activated. Vaccinations help individuals, but they also help the community. And that’s a good thing. High vaccination rates drive down the amount of virus in circulation, which protects everyone, but especially those who are immunocompromised or have underlying medical problems. We vaccinate all children against chicken pox, even though most children quickly recover from the disease, because people with compromised immune systems may have serious complications. We vaccinate all children against rubella, which causes only mild illness in young people but is profoundly dangerous to a developing fetus if a pregnant person is exposed. So we already vaccinate kids for their own sake and to protect the most vulnerable.