Debunking Covid mask and vaccine myths

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This week, California Governor Newsom extended the mask mandate for children while allowing vaccinated adults to be free of the face decor despite Covid cases in California having dropped 75% since mid-January. The reason is pretty clear as California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said this week that vaccination rates for school children are still low. Less than a third of 5-11 yr olds in California are fully vaccinated. 

Yet again, children in this repressive state are forced to live in a perpetual state of panic and fear. Even my son’s school, which has thumbed its nose at the statewide mask mandate for much of his fourth grade year, put in place a temporary mask requirement during the Omicron rise when case rates jumped over 5%.

We ignored this rule largely to avoid prolonging the charade that masks work and that Covid is the biggest health crisis we all face. My decision isn’t political though Democrats identify as the masked party, a position that took root when President Trump downplayed the efficacy of masks and blossomed when President Biden asked Americans to mask up for 100 days. Now the mask identity is hurting Democrats given their inconsistent messaging around when and why to wear them, and display of “let them eat cake” elitism around who should wear them as evidenced by Newsom photographed maskless at a football game and the many unmasked celebrities at this year’s Super Bowl.

We can all take off our masks. And most people do. But you can’t get rid of a vaccine once it’s in your body. This is the most deleterious concern as a parent: the impending vaccine mandates for children. Last October, Newsom said Covid vaccinations are “just another vaccine” and would be required for K-12 starting January or July 2022, depending on when the FDA fully approves the vaccine for a specific age group. On top of this tyrannical mandate, California Sen. Richard Pan, D-Sacramento, introduced Senate Bill 871, ending personal belief exemptions for Covid vaccines in schools. 

I don’t want our school to roll over when and if these regulations pass. For my part, I’m trying to bring together like-minded parents who can stand up with boldness. To do so, we need to understand the legalities of the issue and also the inconclusive and conflicting science so we can reasonably and steadfastly support and defend the choices we’re making for our kids. 

To do so, I wanted to do a little myth busting because so many people make the same arguments as to why we should mask up or vaccinate our kids. They do so because they’re afraid of Covid or they just don’t want to bother fighting. Either stance is wrong, in my opinion. Here’s why and here are some common arguments and how to respond to them.

Firstly, this is a pandemic of the older and unhealthy. Something we knew two years ago. In April 2020, we already knew that 78% of those admitted to the hospital had a pre-existing health condition. We also knew, and the numbers have remained consistent, that 75% of Covid deaths are from those over 65 yrs old. As of this week, 822 kids have died, or .09% of the 923,000 Covid deaths in the US. Some 94% of those who died from Covid have commorbidities - (hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, pulmonary diseases, kidney). And the CDC says 80% of those conditions can be eliminated through healthy behaviors, such as diet, exercise, sleep and mindfulness (peace of mind/serenity). That’s the best prevention for adults and kids. Yet the only prevention message prioritized is to wear masks, get vaccinated and social distance. Imagine if we encouraged people to lose weight, get fit, take vitamin D, be less anxious and be grateful. We would be in a better place.  

But particularly in California, we’re encouraged to live in fear. And fear is infectious, and rubbing off on our  kids. Fear releases the hormone cortisol, which makes us more stressed, weakens our immune system, leads to obesity and heart problems – all the conditions that make us more susceptible to severe illness or death with Covid or any other disease. Fear doesn’t only have a physiological impact, it has a mental one as well. In 2020, we already saw “suspected suicide attempt ED visits” for girls and boys 12-17 were up 22% in the summer 2020 and then up 39% in the winter of 2021, according to the CDC. It’s not just teens. In 2020, kids (5-11 yrs old) were 1000 times more likely to go to the hospital for mental health issues than Covid. 

So if you want to stand up for your kids, here’s some common myths you’ll hear and here’s how you can debunk them. 

  1. Kids are at high risk of dying from Covid. Wrong. They’re at low risk. In a given year, more kids die from pneumonia, suicide, drowning, heart disease, and car crashes. The No. 1 cause of death - car crashes - account for 20% of all deaths, according to a study by the New England Journal of Medicine. Yet we don’t restrict car pooling if a few parents are paranoid about their child getting into an accident. We don’t have school monitors checking seatbelts when parents pick up their kids.

  2. Kids are mandated to get vaccinated for other deadly diseases, like polio, tetanus, etc. so Covid should be no different. Wrong. Covid is not as deadly as other diseases for which vaccines are mandated. For Covid, .006% of kids die after infection. This is compared to 20% of kids under 5 who die after diptheria infection and 10-20% who die (all ages) who get Tetanus. In other words, Diptheria is 3200-times deadlier; Tetanus is 2400 times deadlier; Polio is 80 times deadlier; Measles 32 times deadlier than Covid. Even the flu is deadlier at .01% fatality rate or 1 out of 10,000 kids. Kids are also not mandated to get a flu shot because as we all know if you get a shot, you can still get the flu and transmit. This is also an argument against Covid vaccine mandates.

  3. If kids get vaccinated, we’ll slow the transmission. Wrong. As we all know now, the vaccinated spread Covid (arguably at the same rate as unvaccinated).

  4.  We need to take every precaution to protect the elderly and immunocompromised. Wrong. We don’t mandate that everyone get a flu vaccine to protect the elderly and immunocompromised even though they’re at great risk if they get the flu. We don’t even mandate people mask up if there’s a flu outbreak. And pre-Covid since 2010, on average about 5-20% of Americans got the flu annually. (10-50M people).  

  5. The risks of side effects from the vaccines are lower than the risks of dying from Covid. Wrong. An Oxford study found myocarditis occurs in 1 in 3k to 7k boys after a second dose. That’s more than kids who die from Covid. In other words, boys have a higher risk of getting a heart problem from the vaccine than dying from Covid. 

  6. There are long Covid risks such as multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C, brain damage, chronic disease later in life). Without longitudinal data on long Covid, it’s worth getting the vaccine. Wrong. We also don’t have longitudinal data on negative effects of the vaccine. We already know there's a higher risk of complications (myocarditis in boys) and we’re seeing growing evidence of a negative impact on the female reproductive system.(WSJ). Also why doesn’t anyone talk about “long flu”? The flu can worsen long-term medical conditions, like congestive heart failure, asthma, or diabetes or lung disease. But we don’t mandate the flu vaccine. 

  7.  The vaccines give greater immunity against other variants. Wrong. In January 2022, CDC said natural immunity was more effective against Delta than vaccines in reducing hospitalization. An Israeli study done in summer 2021, vaccinated people 13 times more likely of severe illness than someone with natural immunity. 

  8. We mandate for other health risks so vaccines shouldn’t be a big deal. Wrong! Seat belts, helmets are all good things with only upside. Vaccines have a downside.

  9. When we have a high caseload, we should mask up for the greater good. Wrong! The flu is deadlier than Covid for kids, yet we don’t mask up kids or adults despite an  average of about 5-20% of Americans getting the flu annually (around 10-50 million people) pre-Covid.

  10.  Studies show masks work! Wrong. There are flaws in the many often referred to studies supporting mask mandates in school. A Wisconsin county study, published in CDC and referred to by NPR as evidence that mask mandates in school works, compared schools to a community. It’s a flawed study to compare a school setting with a community setting. An Arizona study, published in CDC and widely referred to by Rochelle Walensky as evidence that schools without mask mandates are 3x more likely to see Covid outbreaks is also flawed because some schools in the study weren’t even in session or had virtual learning. A Salt Lake City study cited by the CDC to support school mask mandates said masks in schools kept infections in schools below 1%, and failed to mention that infection rates in the town were also below 1%. A North Carolina study conducted by Duke ABC Science Collaborative (led by Dr. Kanecia Zimmerman, co-chair of ABC Science Collaborative) studied 60k students and concluded masks limit the spread in schools while at the same time admitting that the “study did not allow for a comparison to an unmasked setting.”

  11. There’s “no cost” to wearing a mask. What’s the big deal? Besides there are no studies that show masks have a downside or don’t work! Wrong! A UK Department of Education study Jan 2022 found detrimental “physical” side effects to students including “verbal” and “non-verbal” communication. In March, Ireland’s Dept of Health announced it wouldn’t require masks in schools because they “may exacerbate anxiety or breathing difficulties for some students.”

  12. It’s just the right-wing anti-science nutcases who say masks don’t work. Wrong! On Dec. 8, 2021, former health commissioner of Baltimore (widely listened to on CNN) said that cloth masks aren’t effective with Omicron because it’s airborne. Former head of FDA Dr. Scott Gottlieb said “Cloth masks aren’t going to provide a lot of protection, that’s the bottom line. This is an airborne illness.” Moreover, there are no N95 masks for kids that are approved by any government agency.

We don’t have to and shouldn’t live in an endless pandemic over every variant. The fact that there is robust scientific debate and disagreement is enough to argue for a reset around these authoritarian elitist one-way, one-size-fits-all zero Covid policies. Our kids know it and in a generation, they will be the masked generation who will put these universal myths to rest.