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IA Doctors Urge COVID 19 Vaccinations Kids 12 and Up

051321 304 news

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is now recommending the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine be given to kids as young as 12. Iowa doctors are encouraging parents in the state to vaccinate their children.

Some Iowa doctors say parents still have many questions about the COVID-19 vaccine. Dr. Joel Waddell is a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Unity Point Health in Des Moines. He says there’s much more to consider with a vaccine other than just protecting children against developing severe cases of COVID, because it will do that. It will also help with mental health and let kids start to return to a sense of normalcy. Like visiting friends and family and even going to summer camps.

  “So I think that there is immediate benefit of giving this vaccine and I think it’s going to loosen things up a little bit in terms of what activities are safe.”

He emphasizes the vaccine is safe for children 12 and older. 

The Iowa Department of Public Health today is reporting five additional COVID-19 deaths and an additional 305 confirmed cases.  Woodbury County today has added 3 new cases to the total count. 

Iowa has joined more than a dozen other states in eliminating the statute of limitations for several child sex abuse crimes. Gov. Kim Reynolds signed the measure into law yesterday.  It eliminates the statute of limitations for sex crimes against children under 18, including sexual abuse, incest, sexual exploitation and human trafficking. It does not eliminate the state’s statute of limitations for bringing a civil claim, which gives Iowans up to a year after they turn 18 to file a lawsuit over abuse. If the abuse was by a counselor, therapist or school employee, survivors can file claims up to five years after they are no longer enrolled at the school or receiving treatment from the therapist or counselor.

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