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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

“How can I brainwash my students into taking something they don’t need”

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.

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.

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.

dont

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.

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.

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

Can children be vaccinated without parental consent in France?