AILSA CHANG, HOST:
Twenty-eight million kids in the U.S. between the ages of 5 and 11 have gone through this whole pandemic without being eligible for a COVID vaccine. But that could change soon. The FDA is expected to approve emergency use of the Pfizer vaccine for them, and they could start getting shots as soon as next week. Colorado Public Radio's Jenny Brundin talked to parents and kids about this moment.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Green light.
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD #1: Yay.
JENNY BRUNDIN, BYLINE: The first kid I ask about whether or not he'll get the COVID vaccine is...
JOHN THOMAS BARTON IV: John Thomas Barton IV.
BRUNDIN: What was that again?
JOHN: John Thomas Barton IV.
BRUNDIN: That's John Thomas Burton IV, who is in fourth grade and has already had four other immunizations.
JOHN: Four - so I already know what the pain's going to feel like. I really want to get this vaccine because then I know if anyone has COVID, I won't - my system will be able to fight it.
BRUNDIN: Following the FDA's actions, the CDC is set to consider how to best use the vaccine. And kids could start getting the shots in early November. A recent poll by Ipsos shows 2 in 3 parents of 5- to 11-year-olds plan to get their kids vaccinated. Cree Mortenson is not one of them.
CREE MORTENSON: Just not something I trust right now. Maybe later, but not right now, no.
BRUNDIN: Mortenson says she's researched the vaccine and has thought a lot about it. She got COVID once. Her vaccinated mom got a breakthrough case three months ago and is still having trouble breathing. But to Mortenson, that just means...
MORTENSON: I'm going to get it either way. Like (laughter), you know, it's like the flu. So...
BRUNDIN: But she says she won't stop her son, who's in second grade, if he wants the vaccine. I head to another park.
JAVIER TOUSSAINT: Siouxrulean and Jakil, come here real quick, babies.
BRUNDIN: Javier Toussaint is vaccinated. He has five children. He's frustrated that some people won't listen to the experts, the scientists and doctors. He says he'd never argue with his mechanic.
TOUSSAINT: If I take my car in there and he's like, look; transmission is shot, and I don't even know how you made it here, I'm not going to sit there and be like, it's my pistons. And so I'm not with people doing that to doctors.
BRUNDIN: Doctors have helped out his 11-year-old, who has the sickle cell trait. She's healthy but has had her spleen taken out, which is part of the immune system.
TOUSSAINT: As soon as they make it available for somebody in her spectrum, immediately.
BRUNDIN: The Ipsos poll shows Black parents are significantly more concerned about their kids getting COVID than whites. Toussaint says he wishes more people understood that some things we do are for the community, just like this playground. Parents like Katti Evans agree. She says children aren't politicizing this. Adults are by insisting...
KATTI EVANS: Either I'm right or else. And that's not how a community works together to protect our kids. We're putting our egos in front of our children's futures, and I don't think that's right.
BRUNDIN: For her, vaccines will keep children learning inside schools and will lessen teachers' anxiety.
EVANS: You know, not having to go home with this anxiety every single day about which kid brought COVID to school today.
BRUNDIN: Chevelle is her 9-year-old daughter.
CHEVELLE: I'm not a big fan of needles, but I do want to be more safe. So I don't really know what to say, like, maybe half and half.
BRUNDIN: But she says she knows it will keep her safe. She'll eventually get it.
CHEVELLE: Probably not right away, right away.
BRUNDIN: ...But a bit down the road. Her mom agrees. They'll wait a bit to see how the rollout goes.
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD #2: I tagged you.
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD #3: ...Go. You can't...
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD #2: I tagged you. I tagged you.
BRUNDIN: Other parents seem overwhelmed by the avalanche of opinions swirling around, so much so they've just withdrawn.
JUANITA GONZALEZ: We don't really think about the COVID 'cause I think it sucks you in. Like, it makes you nervous. It makes you scared if you watch the news. It's just chaotic.
BRUNDIN: Juanita Gonzalez, a mother of a 10- and 12-year-old, says she feels better not engaging. She wants to wait until she feels 100% certain.
GONZALEZ: When I make that decision for my family to get vaccinated, I want to feel comfortable for myself and for my family, not because everybody else is doing it, not because hurry, hurry, do it. You know?
BRUNDIN: For other kids and families, they are ready now because it's a chance to get back to normal. For the past year and a half, some families have done everything except school outside - no movies, no restaurants, no indoor playdates. Here's 10-year-old Vivien Jones quizzing her friend Esther Colburn, also 10.
VIVIEN JONES: What do you think you're going to do after you get both vaccines?
ESTHER COLBURN: Have a sleepover, paint my nails and get my ears pierced.
VIVIEN: Do you think you're going to go to friends' houses after you get the vaccine?
ESTHER: Are you asking this because you want a sleepover?
BRUNDIN: Whether it's about the sleepovers or to keep rising numbers of kids out of the hospital, if the vaccine is approved, 28 million children will be waiting for their parents or guardians to decide.
For NPR News, I'm Jenny Brundin in Denver. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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