CNN’s Wen: Vaccinated Parents Need to ‘Vaccinate their Children’ — ‘We Have Not Prioritized Our Kids’

CNN medical analyst Dr. Leana Wen said Tuesday on CNN’s “Inside Politics” that parents who have made the decision to vaccinate themselves should also “vaccinate their children.”

Wen said, “We have failed our children. Throughout this entire pandemic, we have not prioritized our kids, and now we’re seeing the effect. We’re seeing the mental health impact as you mentioned, but we’re also seeing the impact on nutrition and physical activity. These studies are also showing that school lockdowns have an impact on increasing childhood obesity which also has implications for diabetes and heart disease for these kids growing later on in life as well.”

Anchor John King said, “Sixty percent of the 16 to 17-year-olds are vaccinated, a little more than half 12 to 15. What do you think explains the lagging? It’s only 18%, a little more than that of children aged 5 to 11 who are eligible and not vaccinated. Why is that number still below 20%?”

Wen said, “There’s been a fallacy that somehow children don’t get very ill from COVID-19, which we know is just not true. Yes, it is true that compared to adults, kids tend to not get as ill, but we’ve seen tens of thousands of kids have been hospitalized. Hundreds of children have died. As a parent, I know that if I have the opportunity to take something that’s low risk in my children to something that’s virtually zero risk, I would do that in a heartbeat. So I hope that other parents who have made the decision to vaccinate themselves will also vaccinate their children because this is will allow their entire family to go back to pre-pandemic normal.”

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