What to Do When You’re Vaccinated But Your Kids Aren’t
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If your family is like mine (and Kat’s), you’ve probably been facing this dilemma: What do you do when you’re vaccinated and your kids aren’t? The latest announcement regarding children’s eligibility for the vaccine revealed that the FDA may soon authorize the Pfizer vaccine for kids aged 12–15, which is great news but still leaves a lot of families uncertain about when their younger children will be eligible. In the meantime, what should we do to stay safe?
Have you and your partner been vaccinated but your kids haven’t? How are you making decisions about dining indoors at restaurants, going on vacation, and so on?
My son recently asked me when we’re going to Great Wolf Lodge again (we skipped our annual visit last year, of course), and I wasn’t sure what to tell him. (For now, I can give him an easy answer: Americans aren’t yet eligible for “discretionary” travel to Canada — vax’d or not — and we go to the Niagara Falls location, so we’re out of luck anyway…)
So, what’s a vaccinated parent with unvax’d kids to do?
Here’s the latest advice for vaccinated parents from experts interviewed by The New York Times:
1. It is safe for unvaccinated kids to accompany vaccinated parents to visit vaccinated friends and relatives, indoors and unmasked.
2. It is not safe for unvaccinated kids to accompany vaccinated parents to visit unvaccinated friends and relatives, indoors and unmasked.
3. Traveling within the U.S. with unvaccinated kids “can be done safely, as long as you take certain precautions” — this second NYT article has all the details.
4. It’s best to not bring unvaccinated kids to eat indoors with you at a restaurant.
However, the article concludes by advising parents, “Weigh the pros and cons and make decisions that are a good fit for your family.”
How about you, readers? If you’re vaccinated but your kids aren’t yet, how are you handing questions of safety right now? How are these choices affecting your plans for summer?
Stock photo via Deposit Photos / CandyBoxImages.
My kid goes to kindergarten, masked. This summer, I am signing him up for camps that have COVID protocols that generally require masks.We do not live near family, but are not concerned about family flying to visit IF that person has been vaccinated. As our entire family lives in an area with lax mask requirements and spotty vaccination, we do not intend to travel to the family until our child has been vaccinated.
Our community transmission rate is basically zero now. We allow unmasked play dates with a close group of friends / classmates and we try and keep them outside. Inside is okay too for this group.
We follow all the rules and whenever we are inside or potentially within 6’ if anyone we all mask up.
DH and I have been fully vaxxed for almost a month now (as have the grandparents). We see grandparents regularly (and had been pre-vaccine because we were keeping a bubble with them) without masks. DD started back at part-time preschool a few weeks ago (masked). Once our vaccines were fully effective, we started letting kiddo have mask free outdoor playdates with neighborhood kids where we don’t know the parents’ status and indoor playdates unmasked with other kids where we know the parents are vaccinated and the kids are all low risk. I started going into the office 1-2 days a week. DH has started going into stores to pickup or return things (we mostly shop online anyways). We also started outdoor dining again, with kiddo. DH and I have a trip planned for memorial day for a reunion for DH (DD will stay with her grandparents) and we have a multigenerational family trip planned for end of summer where all adults will be vaxxed by then (in fact I think next week they will all be). All driving; not ready to get on a plane yet. I just signed DD up for vacation bible school at a couple of churches for 2 sessions in June and one in July which I assume will be masked as well, but at minimum I know they are doing reduced capacity and cohorting and I expect virus levels to be significantly lower in our area by then (already dropping).
I don’t seek out crowds, but otherwise we’re living our lives and wearing masks where social norms require it. In my blue bubble, this is basically everywhere in public, including playgrounds. (It angers me to no end that our daycare is still not letting the kids user their playground when all the kids certainly play on community playgrounds after hours.) It’s about 50-50 on bike trails or while passing other hikers.
I have a massage booked, and DH and I are going away for a night or two once I’m officially fully vaxxed, and we’ll continue to do driving trips with the kids. I don’t have a compelling reason to get my kids on a plane, but if I did I would be OK with them flying. All of my social circle will be fully vaxxed by end of this month, and with our close friends we’re OK with the kids playing indoors together without masks. I wouldn’t host an indoor birthday party, but I am not opposed to indoor dining… I just default to outdoor if it’s available and it is basically everywhere, now.
Husband and I will be fully vaxxed + 2 weeks at the end of May. We are already planning a couples trip for the end of June, where my parents (also fully vaxxed) will watch the kids. I think we will mostly do outdoor activities there and it’s within driving distance, but we may do an indoor restaurant or two. It’s so strange how avoiding all dining has become normal to us now, when we used to go out to eat often, and how we have to weigh all of these factors now! Summer here should make staying outside with the kids pretty easy – we’ll do the zoo (probably masked still but we’ll see), playgrounds, playdates with daycare friends and our adult friends (all vaxxed). We’re also going to the Cape again in August, which is what we did last year and will be even safer this year. I’m sure my MIL will want to visit, she is fully vaxxed too. Luckily we’re in a high compliance states for vaccines so as summer progresses, I’m sure I’ll feel more and more comfortable. We weren’t really planning to travel far or on planes until the kids are older anyway, so not too much will change there. I expect we’ll get massages and pedicures again, and go out to eat (probably still outdoors) while my parents watch the kids.
I’m really hoping 2+ kids will be eligible for the vaccines by fall, but if not, I guess my kids will continue to wear masks at school (at least the older one in K).
The one big change: we’ve started letting our kids do unmasked outdoor playdates with other families who are (1) in the kids’ class at school and (2) have vaccinated parents. It is definitely a risk but one I’m comfortable with if I know their parents reasonably well. I’d also be willing to do unmasked indoor playdates with them, but at this point outdoor is so easy that it’s not necessary.
One child, 14 months old. Both parents will be fully vaccinated in 2 weeks. Nanny and all grandparents vaccinated. We are dipping our toes into the water by parents doing a date night at an outdoor restaurant. We may have one parent return to (masked) in-store grocery shopping. We may try to do (unmasked) outdoor visits with other vaccinated adult friends who have unvaccinated babies. Maybe even a timed ticket to the zoo (outdoors only, likely masked due to potential crowds). Other than that, we’re still staying mostly to ourselves/family. No indoor meals or even church yet. But we are returning to occasional self-care like dentist, dermatologist, haircut, pedicure, etc. that we had been holding off on (all masked). Things are still not great in our area.
We have one child, 6 months old.
We’re in no rush to vacation or to eat indoors, so no plans to do either of those any time soon. I think our biggest change will be that once our nanny is also fully vaccinated, we’ll stop wearing masks at home when she’s here (she wears one and so do I, since I WFH full-time, and my husband does as well any time he’s working from home).
Eventually, we’ll let vaccinated family members fly to visit us (and we’ll fly to visit them), but no immediate plans to do so and not currently comfortable with this. Low risk, yes, but higher than our tolerance.
We are doing most things! Indoor dining is a hold out for me, but also that’s an easy call to make in May and it’s more chill with the kids anyway. Planning domestic travel for the summer.
Can’t wait until my kids can get the shot!
we’re doing everything normally. We follow mask rules generally but don’t enforce them on our kids strictly if risk is low (e.g. outside). It is time to stop making kids suffer for adults’ paranoia and desire to virtue-signal.
We’re doing outdoor stuff and seeing all family/friends as all adults are vaccinated (thank god no crazies in our circle). We truly believe kids are less likely to transmit/catch it amongst themselves and that their infections are almost all mild. Yes we are of rare cases. There’s no need for us to dine indoors.
in my state there is no more mask requirement and everything is open 100%. i might feel differently if I lived elsewhere, but for now, we are sticking with outdoor stuff for the most part. the main change is that i am now comfortable taking my kids inside a few friends homes and with the grandparents flying to visit us since DH and I are now vaccinated. Yes, i know that kids are generally lower risk, but i just read something else that more kids are starting to get covid, even if they aren’t dying from it and while i know the vaccine will likely prevent me from ending up in the hospital, i still don’t feel like getting sick and having to parent. also, my kids are newly potty trained and we go to the potty multiple times during a meal at home and i’m not quite ready to deal with that at a restaurant. i think i’ve basically landed on that i’m not comfortable in unmasked situations with strangers. there is also an argument currently taking place on a local mom’s facebook group about how you should not be asking your nanny, cleaning person, etc. about whether or not they are vaccinated for covid and someone literally posted that “it saddens me to hear of anyone that would force another human being to put something into their body against their will so that they can keep working and provide for their family.” — and this is why this pandemic will never end
We’re fortunate that all our relatives and close friends got the vaccine so we can safely socialize with them. For going out in public, our general rule is indoors if masks are required and outdoor if masks are not (we still wear masks though). So we’ve been doing outdoor dining, the zoo, playground and a toddler soccer class (the coach is vaccinated) but holding off on most indoor stuff except the public library. Daycare requires masks and I’m hoping religious school will require masks and we can do that in the fall. We are traveling by plane this summer which I’m nervous about, but the flights are all nonstop, masks are required (through September anyway) and I’m still hoping Covid numbers will come down some more before we fly.
I heard the next vaccine approval tier will be 5+, hopefully this fall. My 3 year old is the height and weight of an average 5 year old so I’m hoping we’ll be able to get the vaccine when they approve for that cohort but I don’t know if it will be possible.
We’ll be fully vaccinated by late July hopefully (in the UK, where rollout has been quite regimented and uptake very very high, with a longer gap between doses). We have a nearly 4 year old.
We’ll see my husband’s family mid August, a mix of vaccinated adults and likely unvaccinated 20 somethings (who are living their best lives) so we’ll only do outside gatherings, which I’m sure will cause drama, but my husband is back in the office and my son is at nursery, so that’s our risk budget used up. Not wasting it on people who have consistently demonstrated poor judgement (getting on a jam packed train to family when their roommate was self-isolating awaiting test results).
My parents will hopefully come in late August, both fully vaccinated. We’ll start eating outside again (just allowed 2 weeks ago) and have started doing outdoor playdates etc. But honestly, I think it’ll take me some time to ease back into things. Not judging others, but personally quite cautious and in now hurry to rush back to a restaurant, theatre, crowded venue.
Emily Oster’s newsletter today was about this and I found it very cathartic – she terms it “decision-fatigue-induced-vaccine-jealousy.” Which I have 100%
“Our older parents are chillaxing with their friends on vacation in Florida drinking fruity cocktails at the swim up bar and we’re still supposed to make our three year olds wear masks at the playground. THIS FEELS VERY UNFAIR.”
https://emilyoster.substack.com/p/the-new-mask-guidelines-from-cdc