Some kids will be vaccinated, others won’t. Same with teachers. That’s troubling to many.
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How South Florida students, parents and teachers are coping with a return to the classroom.
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Some kids will be vaccinated, others won’t. Same with teachers. That’s troubling to many.
Here’s how to help your child if they’re anxious about returning to school
After a recent kung fu class, 7-year-old Samuel Rodriguez-Sánchez complained to his mother that his mask was hot and itchy.
“Mommy, when can I take off my mask?” he asked his mother, Juliana Sánchez, a senior research associate at the University of Miami. She, however, was adamant. The masks will stay on for sports and in the classroom until Samuel and his 10-year-old brother, Gabriel, are vaccinated.
Later that day, the Miramar mother heard Samuel querying the family’s digital assistant: “Alexa, tell me when the vaccine will be available for kids.”
It’s unclear when children under 12 may be eligible for COVID-19 vaccinations and it’s a big concern for many parents as their younger children return to in-person learning and full classrooms.
“I’m feeling worried. My kids already went back to school months ago, but now the variants add to the unpredictability,” said Jennifer Restrepo, who has two daughters, 13-year-old Jordan Rodríguez, who will be returning to Carver Middle for eighth grade, and Taylor Rodríguez, 10, who will be in the fifth grade at Sunset Elementary.
“The fact that there are unvaccinated teachers is perplexing. Plus, there’s a whole set of parents who are anti-vaxxers,” said Restrepo.
Caught COVID in last school year
Jordan has been vaccinated, but Taylor is too young. Restrepo said Taylor caught COVID in April along with four other kids in her class.
“I was very upset,” Restrepo said. “Taylor’s illness lasted 12 days, and she had headaches, fever and, most concerning, was the brain fog.”
The oldest students at Sunset Elementary are 11 “so none will be vaccinated” at the start of the school year, lamented Restrepo. She’d like to see a mask mandate — at least for children under 12.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended that all K-12 students, teachers, staff and visitors wear masks when they return to school, regardless of vaccination status, amid Florida and the country’s soaring COVID cases, fueled by the delta variant.
Neither the Miami-Dade nor Broward County school systems require students, teachers or staff to be vaccinated nor do they inquire about who has been vaccinated and who has not.
Concerns of unvaccinated kids in school
Ariane Guenther, 14, who will be a freshman at Miami Palmetto High and is fully vaccinated, says she knows that not everyone will be vaccinated when she starts classes or “they’ll be really careless about protocols because they’re kids.”
But she said, “I think it’s a much greater risk to be unprotected.”
Her mother, Paola, said she’s most worried about students’ daily exposure to their non-vaccinated peers.
“How are schools going to manage the imbalance between vaccinated and unvaccinated kids?” she asks. “I hope teachers will help kids with this transition back to school.”
Stephanie Woolley-Larrea, who teaches at Coral Reef High, said she got the vaccine the first day it was available to teachers and knows some of her ninth-grade students got their shots on the first day the vaccine was authorized for children ages 12 and up. (Only the Pfizer vaccine is authorized for children 12 and older. Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines are authorized for those 18 and up.)
Woolley-Larrea hopes other students will join them.
“MDCPS has really been very communicative with families about where they can go to get vaccinated and what the timelines are to be fully protected by the first day of school,” she said.
“I really hope people listen to that and that everyone eligible can get vaccinated so we have less disruption this year and kids can have a pretty close to normal year,” Woolley-Larrea said.
Two UM doctors to explore vaccine attitudes
To explore COVID-19 testing protocols in schools and to take a deep dive into attitudes toward vaccination, two University of Miami doctors have been awarded a National Institutes of Health grant.
As part of their vaccine confidence initiative, Dr. Elizabeth Pulgaron, an associate professor of clinical pediatrics at the University of Miami’s Mailman Center for Child Development, and Dr. Lisa Gwynn, medical director for UM’s Pediatric Mobile Clinic, will be using focus groups.
Pulgaron and Gwynn received funding during the second round of the NIH Safe Return to School Diagnostic Testing Initiative. Five projects across the nation will share up to $15 million over two years to research the safest ways to return to school in vulnerable and underserved communities.
In-school learning is especially important for vulnerable kids because without it, they may miss out on school-based meals, after-school programs and speech and occupational therapy, the NIH said in a statement.
“By learning the best practices and methods through research, we can get children back in the classroom safely and equitably,” said Diana W. Bianchi, director of NIH’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, which is managing the initiative.
The University of Miami researchers hope to gain insight into vaccine hesitation and encourage parents who are reluctant to get their children vaccinated.
Among those who have resisted the shots are Tangelia Sands, a Liberty City mother who never allowed her kids to slack off their studies because of COVID-19 and even supervised a study hall in her dining room and invited neighborhood kids to attend every day after school.
A month before school started, she still hadn’t been vaccinated nor had her two children, 13-year-old Summer Miller and 15-year-old LeBron Miller, although her husband got the shot.
“I’m scared about vaccines,” she said. “I’ve heard some horror stories that have freaked me out about reactions to shots. We mask up instead. We’re strict about masking.”
Her plan was for both of her children to return to the classroom this month, but now with the delta variant surging in Florida, she’s trying to decide what to do. Last year, Summer attended Charles Drew K-8 Center while LeBron went to Miami Northwestern High.
“I’m going to see what the numbers are and what the school policies are before we decide,” Sands said in late July. “Physical school is definitely superior to virtual school.”
The United Teachers of Dade, which represents public school teachers and school system employees in Miami-Dade County, is urging vaccinations for all who are eligible.
“As we see the delta variant and hospitalizations among the unvaccinated on the rise, we continue to encourage those who can begin the process of getting fully vaccinated now, before school begins, and have their children continue wearing their masks,” UTD President Karla Hernandez-Mats said in a statement.
But it’s already late for parents who planned to get their children vaccinated with the two-shot Pfizer or Moderna vaccines. To be fully vaccinated by the Aug. 23 start of school in Miami-Dade County, children should have received their first dose by July 19, the UTD said.
The American Academy of Pediatrics is not only recommending masking for everyone age 2 and above but also is urging everyone who is eligible to get a COVID-19 vaccination.
However, Dr. Sara Bode, the chairperson-elect of the AAP Council on School Health Executive Committee, said that the AAP recognizes that “there are many children and others who cannot be vaccinated.”
“That is why it’s important to use every tool in our tool kit to safeguard children from COVID-19. Universal masking is one of those tools,” she said.
Whitefield is a freelance writer who covers international affairs and health issues. Robertson is a Miami Herald staff writer.