Ask HN: As a teacher, how could I convince my 12 yo pupils to get vaccinated? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: As a teacher, how could I convince my 12 yo pupils to get vaccinated?

3 pointsfdeage23 comments

Former French Web developer here.

For about 18 months now, I have been a maths teacher in high school, with ~100 pupils (11-13 yo).

For several reasons, covid vaccination is going very slowly here in France. Out of curiosity, I recently asked my pupils who would get vaccinated today if they could. Not even half said they would. When asked why, they said "it wasn't safe", that we should wait until we know more about possible side effects, etc.

What data/fact could I show to convince them to get a vaccine shot ASAP?

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Has France approved it for kids? In the US it's 16+.

You could present the numbers from the safety studies. You can also compare that for the mortality and hospitalization rates. I'm not sure if that would help or hurt your case, but I think it would be the best way to help them make up their own minds.

Thanks, that would be a good angle.

It is not your place to give medical advice to 12-year-olds.

Giving medical advice and showing data supporting (or not) vaccination are two different things IMO.

Since you’re a math teacher maybe it’s a good opportunity for a statistics lesson.

What are the chances of them having a negative outcome from covid compared to having a negative outcome from the vaccine.

Then they can make an informed choice for themselves.

Probably the best option if we had some data history, but we have no stats on possible long-term effects for these vaccines, so I would have to compare with other vaccines (which might work differently). It's beyond my knowledge on vaccines to know if these comparisons might be relevant.

Vaccine wasn't specifically tested on kids and in the UK anyway we have a hierarchy for vaccination that is something like this:

1. Age 80+ and healthcare or other frontline workers - starting now

2. Age 70+

3. Age 60+ and those with underlying conditions

etc

It's quite a long list and you're looking at millions of vaccinations and boosters before any children will be considered unless they have major health problems. We've done roughly 2 million injections in the UK so far.

Also for minors I suspect the decision to vaccinate will be mainly with the parents not the kids, although it would be nice if they were compliant.

As mentioned below a statistics lesson on the groups of population by age/risk and statistics on catching the virus and outcome would be interesting.

Reminds me of https://xkcd.com/2400.

Indeed, some people will have the vaccine before them so their parents will have SOME data by then.

I don’t think you should try to convince them to get vaccinated or to take this vaccine. They’re 12 and likely not legally of age to make their own medical decisions.

You should educate them on the history of diseases and vaccinations and why this one is safe (no live virus). There are lots of resources. Just give them facts. You can’t stop all anti-vaccers

I agree. Note that there are many vaccines and some of them use live virus. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_vaccine#Authorized_an... , but IIUC France will use the Pfizer that is a mRNA vaccine.

One thing that I heard too many times [here in Argentina] is that the vaccine will modify your DNA. It's false. I don't understand how people thought that, but the press coverage sometimes in very confusing.

Best you can do is lead by example and say that you are getting the vaccine or already got it if you did.

Yes, there is a risk of a bad reaction from the vaccine. Or something we don't know about yet. But there's also more we might not know of the long term effects of Covid-19 exposure. Waiting for proof of 1 to spite the other may not work out so well when the virus is on its own schedule, jumping from person to person.

Avoiding both the vaccine and Covid-19 exposure may not be viable long term. Everyone's getting exposed at some point. Corona's have never been eradicated in human history, so I wouldn't count on the new corona going away. Eventually that virus is finding a way to hop into your body. Best to prepare your immune system.

But your pupils are right. There is a certain complication rate for vaccinations. This complication rate most likely exceeds the complication rate of them getting Covid. Vaccinating 12-year-olds probably does not make sense.

Perhaps you should consider their concerns as valid as a first step. They are not even in an age bracket which will suffer from covid directly.

Of course, their concerns are valid. But I suspect their fear is more due to the current French anti-vaccination climate than to the careful reading of studies about post-vaccination effects. And remember they can still get the virus at school and contaminate their family.

The compromise between disinformation and information is disinformation

Imagine another teacher somewhere that does not believe in vaccination is asking how they can convince their students to not get vaccinated. Would that be ok too? Maybe stick with your employer's policy and curriculum guidance and not try to go off script and impose your views, even if correct, on students.

That would be ok too, I guess... Let the one with the best data win.

As for my employer (= French govt) policy, I'm actually not sure there is one, but if there was, that would probably be to convince people to get vaccinated.

I think most of them would get the vaccine they just don't want to announce in class in front of their friends

I would give them the information and background in how people have abused vaccine trust(Andrew Wakefield), and trust them.

I would try to figure out what they care deeply about and link vaccination to that.

Can children be vaccinated without parental consent in France?

Of course not! I rather consider I'm talking to the parents through their kids.

dont

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