It's been more than two years since the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic began in the United States, with nearly 5.7 million infected children across the country detected. The "Golden State" is no exception, especially when mUnfounded fears limit COVID-19 vaccination in minors in rural California.
Vaccines have become the most effective tool to fight the disease, prevent severe cases, hospitalizations and death. Both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are available for people over six months of age and have been deemed completely safe by the country's health authorities.
Although California is one of the states that has most quickly made vaccines protecting against the SARS-CoV-2 virus available to all those over six months of age, it is also where unfounded fears prevail that limit the safety of the most vulnerable at home.
Conspiracy theories such as the intention to make people disappear, the inability to connect spiritually, and heart or lung failure have been circulating around the world through social media, messaging apps, and streaming platforms, among other means, since the creation of the vaccine.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), vaccines save between 2 and 3 million children's lives each year. Despite this, some parents' fear of their children receiving the inoculation continues due to myths circulating in communities.
These are some of their stories and fears
It is midday on Sunday, May 15, 2022. A joyful family from Oaxaca, Mexico, sits together in Rohner Park to celebrate the fifth birthday of one of its youngest members. Carefree, they celebrate with a dish of Oaxacan pozole, which they proudly offer to anyone who approaches them.
Blue and orange balloons and decorations from the animated children's film "Encanto" adorn the trees next to the table of the Oaxacan farm family who tell P360P that COVID-19 simply does not exist.
"It's my mentality against the whole world, but the truth is that to a certain extent I feel that all of this [COVID-19] is a lie," says a family member and resident of Fortuna County, a location north of the Bay Area in California.
Of this family, only one member has received the inoculation, but the mother and her children refuse to do so.
One of the main reasons for not getting vaccinated, according to residents of Fortuna, is that despite the inoculation, they still run the risk of getting sick.
In addition to this reasoning, there are other myths about the side effects that the COVID-19 vaccine may cause, such as the following infertility and infection to the heart and lungs. However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has pointed out that this is false.
The young members of the family, who get their information from the Internet and their schoolmates, refuse to receive the vaccine, a decision supported by their parents who believe that their children are informed, since they speak English and have access to different communication tools that they do not.
"What they (our children) tell us is that they have heard that because of the vaccine "they will not be able to have children" or that they can get heart disease, and that they can die some time after receiving it," says this Oaxacan mother.
The three most heard myths
in rural communities in California are:
1. Heart infection
2. Lung infection
3. Infertility
Religious and spiritual beliefs are also part of the factors that influence the mentality of the inhabitants to accept or not the inoculation.
“It can block your ability to connect with spirits to meditate. I heard it will also affect a person’s ability to be able to connect spiritually,” are some of the beliefs heard from the community.
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), only 29 percent of children ages 5 to 11 and 59 percent of adolescents ages 12 to 17 in the country were fully vaccinated as of early June, allowing the disease to spread and affect the most vulnerable in the home.
Of note, the CDC has also reported that cases of myocarditis and pericarditis after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine are rare and that patients with these conditions who received the vaccine responded satisfactorily after medication and rest.
On the other hand, the fear caused by the belief that the vaccine against the SARS-CoV-2 virus causes death has increased due to social networks such as Facebook, since it is one of the most popular platforms from which families obtain information.
However, the CDC has noted that reports of death after vaccination are rare and that reports of adverse reactions do not necessarily mean the vaccine caused a health problem.
Educating for life
Beginning in February, the mandate to wear masks outdoors was lifted due to a decline in infections in the U.S., much of it thanks to vaccines.
Schools across the country joined in this uprising.
For a Fortuna County teacher, educating about the importance of vaccination to protect lives has not been easy, even though the school where she works decided to continue with the mask mandate in order to protect its students, teachers and staff.
The school's decision to maintain the use of masks did not affect students. However, several complaints from parents forced the school to remove the rule.
This teacher told P360P that one of her students had COVID-19 symptoms so she asked him to wear his mask telling him: “well, you know it’s because we care about the people around you, because you don’t want them to get sick like you,” which caused the child’s mother to complain to the principal’s offices. Days after the incident, students who were near him began to show symptoms.
In her view, the teacher said that communities of color are more reluctant to get vaccinated and wear masks, saying, "There is a great distrust of medical services and the government because of past aggressions. Our government has a history of harming these populations."
CDC recommends that everyone 6 months of age and older get vaccinated against COVID-19 and that everyone 5 years of age and older get booster doses, when eligible.
If you or someone in your family has questions about the vaccine, go to your pediatrician or trusted doctor so that he can resolve them. There is also information in several languages from the CDCs that can help you.
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