We Were Six Feet Apart. Now We Are Two Years Behind.

I was eleven years old when the pandemic hit in 2020. The first pediatric Covid-19 vaccine wasn’t made available until October 2021, nearly a year after the adult population. Although formulating a vaccine for minors poses its own scientific challenges, social issues–such as the fear and misinformation surrounding the testing and administration of new vaccines–effectively stole two formative years of my generation’s education. The long-term psychological effect of this isolation is still unfolding.

My personal experience of going to school during the pandemic felt both unique and all too common. For three months, I couldn’t leave my family’s apartment. It took another six to go back to school. When we did eventually return to in-person learning, social distancing was our new normal. In my fifth grade classroom, desks were positioned six feet apart and divided by plexiglass panels. And if one of us happened to test positive, the rest of the class could be sent home for weeks of online learning.

When I moved up to a 6-12 school, I was faced with a new challenge. When the vaccine was made available for twelve-year-olds, I was the first in my class old enough to qualify. More than once, this meant that I was the only one in grade 6 allowed to go school with grades 7 through 12 while the rest of my unvaccinated classmates learned on Zoom. All of us were isolated in a way, but I was the only one in an empty classroom that should have been filled with students.

From a biological perspective, a delay in pediatric vaccine development might be unavoidable. With their smaller stature and rapidly growing cells, children’s bodies react differently to foreign pathogens. Even if a vaccine has been deemed safe, dosage may be difficult to determine. Infants face the greatest risk of all due to an underdeveloped immune system still reliant on their mother’s antibodies. According to The Conversation, “Kids aren’t just littler adults…Researchers need to be on alert for side effects that might only occur in youngsters and didn’t appear during vaccine tests on adults.”

The article goes on to stress the “vital role” of volunteers in the safe development of vaccines. The author, Dr. Judy Martin, Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh, writes: “Often we hear from our volunteers that they wanted to help bring the pandemic to an end or felt it was their personal responsibility to help others. Their willingness to participate is crucial.”

Dr. Martin allows that volunteering for a research study is “not for everyone,” and yet just getting a vaccine remains contentious in our post-pandemic political climate. This attitude of “not my problem,” motivated by misplaced individualism and anti-science propaganda, is dangerous on many levels. Without widespread vaccination, there can be no herd immunity; no immunity means no access to the freedoms of normal life we hold dear, like going to school with our friends.

The fallout for the so-called “pandemic generation”–my generation–is still unfolding. Last year, the BBC reported that “the stress and isolation of the pandemic have left social and emotional scars that are already being seen in children.” Teachers have noted that young children seem more “physically cautious” while rates of anxiety and depression have skyrocketed in teens.

No age group has been spared. Researchers at the University of London say their studies “seem to indicate that children who were babies during the pandemic have fewer words and may struggle more with higher-level thinking skills.” Those in school during the pandemic at every grade level effectively lost months of schooling. Global test score data published last year found that math scores “declined an average of 14%” for children around the world, “roughly equal to seven months of learning for a student.” This learning gap doesn’t show any sign of closing, and could “translate to earnings losses [that] could cost this generation of students trillions of dollars.”

Failing to be vaccinated in childhood also carries severe health risks. Battling repeated infections can seriously impact a child’s development, triggering health issues that can linger into adulthood. An article published last year by the Gavi Organization’s Vaccine Alliance points to recent data: “Children who are exposed to frequent infections during early life – including common colds and stomach bugs – may be at greater risk of moderate to severe illness later in life” such as stunting, wasting, and even organ damage.

The risks of not getting vaccinated outweigh politics. And yet, the New York Times reported in 2021 that the US had the lowest rate of vaccination among its G7 peers. If more citizens, young and old, had been immunized upon the new vaccine’s release, both science and common sense suggest that life could have returned to normal much sooner.

Now, with new variants on the rise and the NIH all but dismantled, getting vaccinated is more important than ever. I’m grateful to have received the vaccine when I did, but fear for the health of my generation and the ones that follow should we ever endure another global crisis similar to 2020. Whether it’s our mental, physical, or financial health on the line, we simply can’t afford another pandemic.

Faaris Ahmed is a junior at York Preparatory School in New York City. He volunteered at NYU Langone Health this past summer and is interested in pediatric medicine.