In the News: Debate Starts Over COVID-19 Vaccine for Children in New Jersey
Schools have been the front line in universal childhood vaccination in the United States since nearly the beginning of childhood vaccines, from the debates in the late 1800s and early 1900s over whether all Massachusetts students get a smallpox vaccine to more widespread mandates for measles and other shots in the 1970s.
And in recent years, of course, they have also proven the new battleground in the heated debates and protests about requiring vaccines at all.
But like with many other topics and issues these days, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought a new twist to that conversation, as the prospect of an effective vaccine against the coronavirus in the coming weeks and months has raised questions over whether it, too, will be required in schools — and if that vaccine mandate would include students, teachers and all school staff.
It’s still early in the discussion, given there is no childhood vaccination yet in place. But a leading state legislator this week said he plans to propose that the COVID-19 vaccination be among those required of schoolchildren once its use is approved for children.
“It should be included [among the required vaccines] unless there is a medical reason otherwise,” said state Sen. Joseph Vitale (D-Middlesex), chairman of the Senate’s health committee.
Read more here.
Children’s Weight and the Lack of Grocery Options: What We Can Do
Low-income communities pay a steep price in health for cheap, convenient food.
But efforts to make healthier food available in these communities can help improve health outcomes, according to a study published today in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
Children who live in low-income minority neighborhoods with a lot of convenience stores selling unhealthy food are more likely to develop obesity, researchers reported.
Researchers followed two groups of children ages 3–15 in four communities in New Jersey (Camden, New Brunswick, Newark, and Trenton) that have undertaken policy and environmental programs to combat childhood obesity.
The study tracked changes in the number and type of food outlets in close proximity to the homes of the children in the study and how that changed over time.
Changes included store openings and closings, families moving between communities, and existing food stores responding to community initiatives by improving their healthy food offerings.
Read more here.
Childhood trauma impacts millions of Americans, and it’s having devastating consequences
Those experiencing high levels of trauma can see dramatically lower life expectancies, and the CDC estimates it accounts for billions of dollars in healthcare costs and lost productivity.
Special correspondent Cat Wise reports as part of our series, “Invisible Scars: America’s Childhood Trauma Crisis."
Read the full interview transcript here.
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