VaxTeen Aims to Help Children with Anti-Vaxx Parents to Get Consent, Receive Pfizer's COVID-19 Vaccine
Isaiah Richard, Tech Times
VaxTeen is an online database that aims to help children and teenagers, and those with Anti-Vaccine parents (a.k.a. anti-vax) to get consent for immunization against COVID-19. Currently, the only vaccine shot that has approved eligibility for children 12 to 17 years old is Pfizer and BioNTech, but it requires parental consent to continue.
Sometimes, the parents are the "Karens" who do not believe in COVID-19 or do not want vaccines to be administered to their children because of their skepticism on the immunity shots.
VaxTeen Online Database
VaxTeen.Org is an online database that is free and accessible to everyone who needs it, and it was created by Kelly Danielpour so that teens may feel supported despite the objection against vaccines by their parents. Danielpour regarded that teens should also have a say or control on the vaccines which they would receive, either as something they want, or something they are against.
What the online database brings is a series of compiled information about vaccines and their effectiveness, as backed by the data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and other health agencies. The website also has information on several laws from different states which have no need for consent from parents in receiving an immunization dose.
According to NBC News, there are several accounts of children that had already taken the vaccine dosage, despite their parents being against it.
Anti-Vaxx Parents
The arrival of COVID-19 has brought a lot of conspiracy theories that surround it, especially as a lot do not believe the legitimacy of the virus, and that they are manmade tales from popular entities like Dr. Anthony Fauci and Bill Gates. Initially, a lot of misinformation was released in 2020, including the film called "Plandemic" which focused on creating a scare for the world.
Conspiracy theories like these, among other misinformation content found on social media, have furthered the beliefs of anti-vax parents against COVID-19. Due to this, a lot of people are missing their chance to get immunity against it, with some believing that it is filled with magnets so that the government can track the public.
Anti-vaccine parents have been around even before COVID-19 and this misinformation only furthered them to hold on to their beliefs and avoid immunization against it.
COVID-19 Vaccine Eligibility
(Photo : Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Goolsby Elementary School third grader Ava Dweck, 9, takes an online class at a friend's home during the first week of distance learning for the Clark County School District amid the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) on August 25, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. CCSD, the fifth-largest school district in the United States with more than 315,000 students.
COVID-19 vaccine eligibility has been lowered to adolescents and teenagers aged 12 to 17 years, but most of these need parental consent to proceed with the shots. The only approved vaccine is that of Pfizer, and it is one of the most highly regarded shots in the current lineup.
VaxTeen hopes to help children in educating their parents and hopefully giving them consent in proceeding to vaccination sites and be immunized against the coronavirus.