Want Students to Get the COVID-19 Vaccine? Here’s What to Do and Not to Do – Education Week

Schools have a big interest in students getting vaccinated against COVID-19. It protects students, especially those with weakened immune systems who are at greater risk of getting severely ill with COVID-19; and it shields older teachers and school staff from getting sick. Plus, vaccinated children and adolescents are important to stopping the spread and mutation of the coronavirus nationally.

Schools have long been a resource for health information for families, and public health experts see schools as a key partner in helping families overcome their concerns about the COVID-19 vaccines. But how schools approach this potentially delicate issue is very important.

The vaccines against COVID-19 are newonly one vaccine from the drugmaker Pfizer has been approved for children as young as 12and for that reason many parents are hesitant about getting their children immunized against the coronavirus.

Education Week spoke with several experts on public health and vaccine hesitancy and came up with this list of best practices for school and district leaders about how to discuss, encourage, and inform families about the COVID-19 vaccine.

Remember, vaccine hesitancy (the public health term for the delay in accepting vaccines or refusing them altogether) is a complicated issue and addressing it can be a delicate dance. This is true not only for COVID-19 vaccines, but also routine childhood immunizations.

To read more advice from public health experts on vaccine hesitancy, and to learn how one school district is tackling the issue, check out this story from Education Week.

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Want Students to Get the COVID-19 Vaccine? Here's What to Do and Not to Do - Education Week