Once infected, vaccinated people seem to transmit COVID similarly to unvaccinated people; there’s no reason to suspect the same isn’t true for children, the youngest of whom are still not eligible for COVID shots. And yet many vaccinated people are walking around this holiday season thinking their immunizations are force fields that not only protect them, but also shield vulnerable loved ones. They are not.

It is vital that people responsible for the health of unvaccinated children, as well as people at high risk of infection, understand this: COVID vaccines make it less likely you’ll get sick and especially unlikely you’ll get very sick. But vaccinated people—whether they have symptoms or not—are contracting and spreading the virus in nontrivial numbers.

If I could do things over again, I would not have allowed my son to be around even vaccinated people indoors without masks.