For the children’s sake, all should get vaccinated

Dear Editor,
Parents need to better understand the risks that are present in essential activities and occupations that are not telecommute-friendly.
It is critical for all parents to take full responsibility and adopt all COVID measures in their homes, allowing it to become a normal practice, ensuring personal protective equipment (PPE) and appropriate physical distancing are a priority at all times and that it is encouraged in the home to take COVID-19 vaccines, risk reduction needs to be the key to protecting ourselves as parents and our children.
Clearly outlining to our children, persons who are refusing to get a COVID-19 vaccine could be prolonging the pandemic by contributing to spikes in cases and giving the virus more opportunities to mutate.
As epidemiologists have said from the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, a vaccine is the only true way to eventually resume much of life as we knew it. Now, more than a year later, there are several vaccines against COVID-19 circulating rapidly through the Guyanese population.
As more people get vaccinated against COVID 19, research continues to show the shots are safe for people and effective at preventing them from developing severe cases of COVID-19, namely those that end in death. What is evident and of great importance to the Government of Guyana has been to make COVID-19 vaccination available for every Guyanese in every region and we must get vaccinated. We owe this to our children, the next generation of Guyanese.
Many people are sighing in heavy relief after getting their shots, while there are still some people whose areas are convinced the shots aren’t for them and say they won’t get them when it’s their turn. Even though surveys show vaccine hesitancy is going down, it remains a concerning issue in Regions Eight and 10 still.
However, it’s something our PPP/C Government, the Minister of Health and the Regional Health Officers are attempting to tackle through a new ad campaign.
There is new research that sheds light on the tragic toll the COVID-19 pandemic has had on children.
It is estimated that over 40,000 children in the United States have lost at least one parent to the virus. Children who lose a parent are at elevated risk of traumatic grief, depression, poor educational outcomes, and unintentional death or suicide, and these consequences can persist into adulthood,
Guyanese! We are not preparing to accept catastrophe and the denouement of drama, especially a classical tragedy.
This burden will grow heavier as the death toll continues to mount. Losing a parent is traumatic at any age and in any circumstance. But now, compounding that grief is a year plus of lockdown where routines have been disrupted and children have had to stay distanced from friends and other loved ones.
When it comes to how a child responds to the death of a parent, much of it depends on the child’s age, the relationship the child had with that parent, their own temperament, and their relationship to their other support systems, such as other family members, friends, and loved ones
Younger children are typically affected in many different ways than older kids. For example, primary age children often partake in what experts refer to as “magical thinking”. However, all kids will try to make sense of what happened, but the little ones tend to see things in very egocentric ways, so they might worry that they did something wrong or that they caused it.
This can especially play out in the time of COVID-19, where children may worry about how their parents contracted the virus and if they played a role.
It’s really important to listen to kids’ worries and reassure them that there’s nothing they did or didn’t do to cause this, Older children, particularly teens, can have a better handle on reality, though given the nature of COVID-19, it wouldn’t be uncommon for them to also worry if they were part of the reason their parent got sick, However, teens may also be dealing with more complex feelings.
They may be struggling with feelings of guilt or worry if there were conflicts or challenges which are really normative in that developmental period, and worrying if their parent knew what they meant to them, they may need a lot of reassurance that their parent knew how much they loved them.”
The death of a parent from COVID-19 may also prompt severe anxiety in kids of all ages about the health and safety of other loved ones.
Additionally, it’s important to note that there’s no time limit on grief and feelings of sadness, guilt, and anger may come on at different times.
Children grieve differently and they also grieve for different lengths of time. The loss of a parent, in particular, is lifelong grief. Everyone should get vaccinated and prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Sincerely,
David Adams