SeekingJana
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The adults in my household are vaccinated. We’re going into stores now (masked, and I add glasses as well). SARS/MERS vaccines were under development pre-covid, so we all felt ok getting this vaccine.
My concern is now that vaccinated adults could infect my kids - we don’t know what the virus can do in 20yrs. HPV, for example, is linked to later head/neck & cervical cancers. HIV increases risk of several rare cancers as well. I’m more worried about a virus-caused cancer than MIS-C, simply because it’s such a new and unstudied virus.
OK, if you live in the US, we've never had an outbreak of SARS. We came close, but we somehow dodged it. ( dumb luck, IMO).
You mention your children being exposed to people with COVID and maybe it will cause cancer. COVID is a coronavirus, and your children have had MANY other coronaviruses in the form of " colds" and upper respiratory infections. We all have, we simply lacked immunity to the mutant strain that was unleashed on the world.
It was not containable, as we well know now, but on its own, in the " wild", is not an exceptionally harmful virus. One day, we may not need anything but a yearly booster with our annual flu shot.
I'd like to point out that your children could be at risk from one strain of influenza one year. It mutates in masse every year, starting in Asia. We can't stop Influenza, but we CAN vaccinate against it and if there isn't total immunity, then the case can be lessened by the antiviral medications.
Whether you decide your children get HPV vaccines is up to you. I do not think a vaccine made from killed viral cells can cause illness. We learned this the hard way with early vaccines 70 years ago, although none of us were probably alive to see the first Smallpox vaccines or influenza vaccines.
Teach your children how not to get HIV/ AIDS. Parents have a responsibility to teach about safe sex and there's no shortcut. What was true in 1980's teaching is true for 2021, except that there IS a post- exposure injection that can be given which decreases the chance of getting HIV infection. It has to be given early after possible exposure via any route.
We can do THOUSANDS of things to protect adults and children. Hepatitis kills. There are now vaccines against most major types of Hepatitis, and drugs to eradicate the more rare types.
Adolescents need a Meningitis vaccine, then a booster. I've seen teens die in ICU of bacterial Meningitis. It is truly horrible and eye- opening. My child got vaccinated and the booster at the appropriate age.
Remember, most of all, a person can't complain about disability or severe illness from diseases if they didn't avail themselves of the life saving vaccines. We don't force anyone to get vaccinated unless they are entering the US military, as I understand it.
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