OPINION | This article contains political commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Before Tuesday, the World Health Organization’s website said, “children should not be vaccinated at the moment. There is not yet enough evidence on the use of vaccines against COVID-19 in children to make recommendations for children to be vaccinated against COVID-19.”
A few high profile people have been using this statement and others in their argument against vaccinating their own kids or simply condoning the vaccine for children is general.
As of Wednesday, that part of the Who’s website now reads that “children and adolescents tend to have milder disease compared to adults, so unless they are part of a group at higher risk of severe COVID-19, it is less urgent to vaccinate them than older people, those with chronic health conditions and health workers.”
God forbid anyone to make any statements about vaccines in either direction, because SOMEONE will be coming for you, guaranteed.
Despite the WHO’s politically correct language, and the CDC recommendation of the Pfizer vaccine for kids ages 12-17, and despite the fact that the Make-A-Wish Foundation works with critically ill children who don’t have time for none of this drama, the foundation has been telling it’s partners that they will not be scheduling any wishes until after the critically ill children and all of their family members are vaccinated.
I know two Make-A-Wish kids. Fortunately, both have already experienced their wishes and don’t have to worry about these parameters. I can’t imagine what their parents would do if that wasn’t the case and their dream was being held hostage like this! One of the kids is freaking six, and his immune system is so shot his parents are very strict about anything being introduced into his body. The other is ten years old, and having so many ups and downs that I’m not sure his parents would have been willing to risk the vaccine. For others who are still waiting, Make-A-Wish won’t resume wishes until September 15 (for the fully vaccinated, of course), and some people simply may not have that long. I mean, hello, critically ill?
I didn’t even realize Make-A-Wish had stopped granting wishes, because it’s not like critical illnesses have been on hold during Covid. And if you check their website, they’ve certainly been campaigning for support without fail. Maybe they’ve been granting small wishes to isolated groups? I haven’t been able to find the answer to that.
Their website does not have an official statement on requiring the vaccine, but President and CEO of Make-A-Wish America, Richard Davis, released a video statement that is currently circulating on social media. He states that they will resume granting air travel wishes within the US and its territories, as well granting wishes involving large gatherings for vaccinated wish families, as long as the wish child and all their family members including siblings are two weeks past completion of their vaccine.
I’m skeptical of a lot of charities these days. After the leaders of BLM walked off with billions of dollars and nothing to show for it, I think we should all be very careful of where we send our money under the guise of helping others. That said, I always felt like Make-A-Wish did amazing things. AMAZING things. One of the wishes I saw granted was above and beyond anything I or his parents could have ever imagined, but this vaccine game is BS and I’m not a fan of anyone who plays it.
Like, sorry that kid isn’t going to make it, and we’d really like to help, but only if you do what we say. Our compassion for your compliance. I must say, I’m disappointed. How about you get the vaccine if you want to, and if you can, and we don’t hold your dream hostage in the meantime?
Earlier this month, former CEO Jennifer Woodley plead guilty to a slew of felonies for embezzling over $40,000 from the organization. Clearly no one person is representative of such a large organization as this one as a whole, but this has NOT been a good month for Make-A-Wish. Who’s doing PR over there? I hope y’all have a Hail Mary! Because, sheesh.
Statistics vary by websites like this tracker, and the numbers clearly vary by state, but it looks like just over half of the country is now fully vaccinated.