December marked the debut of COVID-19 vaccines in America, and with it an enormous exhale across the country. Finally a potential solution to this year-long pandemic seems to have arrived, bringing the promise that families, separated out of social distancing requirements, might be reunited. But there are still fears of the virus spreading to worry about. So as much as we’d all like tosee grandparents, is it safe to bring the kids over if grammy and grandpa have had the COVID-19 vaccine?
Dr. Mike Patrick, M.D., emergency medicine physician and general pediatrician at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, says we might need to curb our enthusiasm. Even though the first COVID-19 vaccination (called “the weapon that will end the war” by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo) was given on Dec. 14, the global crisis is far from over.
Vaccines are being shipped across the country, but their rollout has been slow, according to the New York Times, which reported that only 2.1 million doses have been given out so far (a fraction of the 20 million federal officials had hoped for by the end of 2020).