The information contradicts the claims of some politicians who are irresponsibly claiming they know better than the doctors by displaying hand-made charts and politically motivated data collected by their elected offices. The CDC and AAP declarations reflect the frightening spread of the very contagious “Delta variant” COVID strain. Not being doctors or medical professionals, these irresponsible politicians are using old data to make their political assertions and mislead the public into a political debate.

Only a few agencies such as School DIstrict 230 had advanced a reasonable face mask policy that was trumped by the announcement this week from Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker requiring all students to wear face masks regardless of whether or not they have received the COVID vaccinations. Click here to read the Governor’s Declaration.

While the School District 230 plan was considered a reasoned and professional compromise, Gov. Pritzker’s mandate has trumped that reasoned effort. But those who argue against any students wearing masks are irresponsible and are hoping to fuel a political debate that targets the school districts that they failed miserably trying to control int he last election.

On July 27, 2021, the CDC announced guidance for universal indoor masking for all teachers, staff, students, and visitors to K-12 schools, regardless of vaccination status. District 230 will follow that guidance until further notice. At that time, District 230 will fully implement the Blue, Yellow, Orange plan referenced below. Click here to read District 230’s reasoned and commonsense approach to the COVID pandemic.

School District 135 also has a strong and effective policy to protect children from he surging COVISD pandemic. Click here to view their policies.

The age distribution of reported COVID-19 cases was provided on the health department websites of 49 states, New York City, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Guam. Since the pandemic began, children represented 14.3% of total cumulated cases. For the week ending July 29, children were 19.0% of reported weekly COVID-19 cases.

Although so far the data shows that the infections do not involve “severe illness,” they said the concern is the wave of infections could lead in that direction and precautions are necessary.

Last week at a circus-like press conference, one southwest suburban mayor asserted falsely that children are immune from COVID and that the government should not be addressing the health concerns of school aged children.

That message also contradicts the fact that governments have guidelines on inoculations against a wide range of possible illnesses, so government involvement in protecting the health and safety of children is not only common but it is nowhere near the hysterical claims of these irresponsible politicians.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends COVID-19 vaccination for all adolescents 12 years of age and older who do not have contra-indications for the vaccine. See AAP policy.

Drawing upon data posted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) the AAP is tracking the progress in vaccinating US children under 18 years of age. See link below to download the full AAP report.

Cumulative Child COVID-19 Vaccinations:

As of August 4, 2021, the CDC recorded 10.1 million US children under age 18 have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine:

• Representing 51% of 16-17 year-olds and 40% of 12-15 year-olds

7.7 million of these children are fully vaccinated:

• Representing 41% of 16-17 year-olds and 29% of 12-15 year-olds

Trends in Child COVID-19 Vaccinations according to the AAP:

Over half a million children (511K) received their first COVID-19 vaccine dose this past week:

• Children receiving their first dose increased each of the past three weeks.
• The number of weekly first-dose vaccinations remains far below the peak of 1.6 million in the end of May.

Child vaccination rates vary substantially across states.

• In 4 states, over 60% of children (age 12-17) have received at least 1 dose, and in 9 states, 30% or fewer have received 1 dose.

Source: AAP analysis of data series published by the CDC titled “Demographic Trends of People Receiving COVID-19 Vaccinations in the United States” as of August 4, 2021. Note: Individual state web sites may have additional or more recent information.

There are 72.8 M children under age 18 in the US, 22% of the population. Children under age 12 are not yet eligible for COVID-19 vaccination, representing 14.5% of the US population.

The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine was approved by the CDC in persons aged > 16 years on December 12, 2020, following an EUA from the FDA on December 11th. On May 12, 2021, CDC approved the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in persons aged 12-15 years, following the vaccine’s EUA granted by the FDA on May 11th.

(Ray Hanania is an award winning former Chicago City Hall reporter and political columnist who writes for the Southwest News Newspaper Group in the Des Plaines Valley News, Southwest News-Herald, The Regional News, The Reporter Newspapers. He is president of Urban Strategies Media Relations. For more information on Ray Hanania visit www.Hanania.com or email him at [email protected].)