We don’t have any long term data on Covid infection either. Why risk children’s lives?

Because the vaccine is a risk factor on its own as well. Do you not agree with that?

> vaccine is a risk factor on its own as well

We have evidence, in adults, of long-term effects from Covid. These effects aren't benign, either, e.g. permanent damage to the brain's grey matter. We have zero evidence of long-term side effects from the vaccine.

Ceteris paribus, infection is riskier than vaccines to adults. (I can think of zero diseases for which the vaccines are fine for adults and harmful to children and whose infections are harmful for adults and fine for children.)

This study is compelling evidence for creating an analog to the vaccine passport for the provably previously infected. It is not good evidence for intentional infection.

The vaccine risk is strictly a subset of the viral risk.

Getting the virus entails getting a lot more of the spike mRNA pumping out a lot more spike protein along with all the rest of the viral machinery and real infectious virions, infecting more cells than just in the muscle of your arm, attacking your heart, lungs, kidneys, etc.

Getting the virus is always going to be worse, for everyone, than getting the vaccine.

Which is also why people refusing to get the vaccine because they've been infected is dumb, because they already beat everything in the vaccine.

It isn't a strict subset. Vaccine risk includes cellular expression of spike protein in a scattershot way throughout your circulatory system (mRNA vaccine). Viral infection expresses whole virus, not just sprotein, and isn't targeted at or tramitted through the circulatory system, but instead the respiratory system.

There are differences, and s-protein expression may trigger mild autoimmune disorders.

You've got that backwards, the virus spreads through the bloodstream and produces thrombosis and thrombocytopenia. It isn't "scattershot" its more multi-organ "carpet bombing". And it kills through causing major autoimmune reactions, and even when patients live can causes several permanent autoimmune issues (diabetes, etc).

No, not at all, if you understand how the vaccine works you wouldn’t either.

As a counter point, in the 2017-2018 flu season, there were no protective measure taken. In 2020, the majority of people, especially in areas of high density, wore masks, reduced travel, washed hands more often, maintained distance, etc.

The number of cases/hospitalizations/deaths from flu in the US were the lowest recorded by far (though complete records don't go back that far). This shows that those protective measures were effective.

https://www.cdc.gov/flu/season/faq-flu-season-2020-2021.htm

Comparing childhood covid deaths in 2020/2021 vs flu deaths in 2017/2018 isn't an apples to apples comparison.

The 2017-2018 flu season had a vaccine as protective measure.

There are flu vaccines every year. But they are not targeted for one strain ... they are developed many months in advanced based on a guess of what variants might be most common. Sometimes they guess right, often they do not. Most people don't get them.

On the other hand, in 2017-2018, vanishingly few people were wearing masks, or social distancing, people weren't avoiding (or governments prohibiting) high density gatherings.

Again, you are comparing apples and oranges.

Do you have kids?

As a father of two kids unable to be vaccinated I disagree. The risk of long term health issues is worrying for many parents. You are welcome to do what you feel is best for your family but we shouldn't consider systematic widespread exposure as a solution.

> I know this a controversial take, but it should be in our national interest to get young children exposed and gain natural immunity…

It's not so much "controversial" as it is an archaic idea. We've been there, done that, for chicken pox, measles, etc.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pox_party

In short, "infection parties" are an unnecessary risk when vaccines exist. Even if you do nothing else to protect your child and they experience a breakthrough case, they're a lot less likely to be hospitalized and potentially suffer lifelong effects if they've been vaccinated.

You wanna volunteer your kids while you’re at it? 165M vaccinated people. The trial participants have been vaccinated for over a year.

My kids had Covid already, honestly it was surprisingly a non issue.

It’s only a “non-issue” if you’ve no consideration for others. With R(t)>>1 your children presumably spread it to others unless they were completely quarantined immediately after exposure. And the children/adults they infected likely spread it too.

This exponential spread makes it quite likely someone died from the infection chain rooted in your children.

This is why the “unmask the kids” movement I see from other parents is complete nonsense. While it’s nice that kids are at less risk of severe cases, it only matters that they can transmit the virus.

Right, but those deaths were in an environment when there were interventions to protect people. Take away those interventions and you have more deaths.

That's (probably) correct for the population as a whole, but the case is much less clear as far as kids are concerned.

For example, look at the 0-14 graph of excess deaths at https://euromomo.eu/graphs-and-maps. It would be very hard to say that 2020 and 2021 are any different from any other year as far as kids are concerned. During that time we had all sorts of lockdown on, lockdown off, masks on, masks off, vaccines, school open, school close, but the graph stays within its normal pre-covid variance irrespective of all these interventions.

Many children already get vaccinated for the Flu, so there were interventions to protect people then too.

It is a bit reckless to push beta version treatments to children, especially when the expected benefits are minor. Kids already handle Covid exceedingly well naturally. Remember that mRNA vaccines have never been deployed at scale before and we have no clue what the long term effects might be. 20 years from now this will be a different conversation.

That’s effectively what we’re doing by opening in-person schools.

We don't know the long term effects of COVID either. How many decades are between chicken pox and shingles?

Chickenpox (varicella) is a herpesvirus which remains dormant in the patient after the acute infection phase. That's why it can reactivate later in life as shingles. It has almost nothing in common with coronaviruses.

Every fool is an expert these days

It is not controversial. It is what data strongly indicates, and should be the top comment. As a parent of school age children and with impending school reopening I have recently participated in Covid discussions on this forum to learn more (thanks to people posting and engaging in polite conversation). I had some idea that Covid was less dangerous for kids, but had no idea how much less. I am shocked by the disconnect between data and the public health discourse in this country (USA) pertaining to Covid and kids. On the bright side, I am heartened that the risks for kids are minimal and entirely acceptable, with or without masks, vaccines, lockdowns, school closures, covid passports and whatnot. Though please stay at home if you have symptoms, this is not the time for foolish Covid parties.

Bottom line: Life involves risk, and kids are too subject to some small, but not zero risk. The Covid fatality rate for children is 1/1000 the fatality rate for old people, in line with other risks kids face daily in their lives. For all intents and purposes there are 2 different pandemics: mostly normal for kids and 0.2-1.0% IFR for adults. As an adult, take the vaccine ASAP (I did). But please stop assuming that kids share the same risk profile. They are emphatically LESS likely to develop complications. After infection, they are likely to buildup strong natural immunity against future strains (see OP article). Caveat: the virus mutates and/or CDC estimates may be wrong, so the situation may deteriorate in the future.

* For 0-17s, total 'deaths involving covid' as of 08/25 is actually a bit smaller: 385. For comparison, 'deaths involving influenza' are 188, in influenza-suppressed season. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid_weekly/index.htm.

* CDC estimates that a full 26M kids were infected by Covid, for a fatality rate of 14/M. Total number of kids is 78M, so even the absolute numbers won't get catastrophically worse as long as the virulence of the virus stays the same. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/burd...

* The total number of school age children fatalities from all cases in US is 5,497, for a 134/M fatality rate. Covid is 10 times less dangerous than just living as a kid. Just the drowning fatality rate is 10/M, same ballpark as Covid. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/child-health.htm

* Unfortunately, not all kids are equally healthy. In the first year of the pandemic, 25 kids died in UK. 'around 15 had life-limiting or underlying conditions, including 13 living with complex neuro-disabilities'. '6 had no underlying conditions'. No CDC data. https://www.bbc.com/news/health-57766717

* Whenever you hear 'the hospitals are filling up', do they specifically provide Covid numbers, or are leaving you to fill in the blanks and guess 'Covid'. Tennessee Health Commissioner: 'Children’s hospitals here are on pace to be completely full by the end of next week. Which ones? “All of them,” she said'. Reality: As of 07/31, 41 with enterovirus, 22 with RSV, 10 with Covid, 8 with adenovirus, plus some small tail. No CDC data. https://twitter.com/ifihadastick/status/1423326573185454080

* The CDC director, Rochelle P Walensky, is a co-author of the infamous John Snow Memo, claiming 'Furthermore, there is no evidence for lasting protective immunity to SARS-CoV-2 following natural infection, and the endemic transmission that would be the consequence of waning immunity would present a risk to vulnerable populations for the indefinite future.'. This has been a cornerstone for draconic Covid policies, and has been recently debunked by a number of studies, including the OP article. Shame. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6...