The California Department of Public Health, Silicon Valley Community Media – Ding Ding Studio, and Ding Ding TV led a Community Dialog to answer important questions that parents and students have about the safety and other concerns with vaccinating children against COVID-19. Titled “Is it safe to vaccinate our children against COVID-19?”, this Community Dialog took place Thursday, June 2, 2022 on Zoom, YouTube, and Clubhouse. It was conducted in Chinese and English, and featured:

• Dali Fan, Health Science Clinical Professor at UC Davis
• Yurina Melara, Multiethnic Press Secretary, COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force of the California Department of Public Health

Dr. Fan presented key scientific results and recommendations, with Dr. Melara providing additional information and answers.

During the Q&A, Joseph Shan, a Junior at Lynbrook High School, asked for clarification about vaccine efficacy. Dr. Fan cited conclusive statistical results that proved vaccination does prevent COVID-related: death (highest efficacy), hospitalization (2nd), symptomatic infection (3rd), and asymptomatic infection (4th). Dr Fan further clarified that asymptomatic infection means that a person does test positive of COVID, while showing no symptom.

To the question whether being infected with COVID confers immunity, Dr. Fan said that indeed there is immunity after a COVID infection, but the immunity duration is not conclusively known. On the other hand, clinical studies concluded that vaccination yield long-lasting immunity from both infection and re-infection. So even after COVID infection, full vaccination is still highly recommended.

Other questions came from:

• Ruby Sun, President of the Bay Coding Club
• Liyan Zhao, Founder of the public WeChat channel “How to raise kids”
• And others

Notable clarifications in the answers provided by Dr. Fan and Dr. Melara included:

1. COVID is significantly worse than the flu, in terms of both infection and death rates.
2. There is no effective way to arrive at zero COVID infection, but the rate of infection can be drastically reduced with vaccination.
3. Common short-term side-effects in the days following vaccination include: fatigue, sore throats, and low-grade fever; symptoms that indicate the body has been activated to build up defense against the virus.
4. Rare side-effects from vaccination include: myocarditis (20 in 1 million) which is an inflammation of the heart muscle leading to abnormal heartbeats; and pericarditis (10 in 1 million) which is an inflammation of the tissue around the heart leading to chest pain. But being infected with COVID is much worse than being vaccinated. COVID infection has 10,000 more chance of leading to myocarditis and pericarditis (10-15 in 100).
5. There is no theoretical reason to believe COVID vaccination impacts fertility, and indeed there has been no evidence that it affects fertility rates among boys and girls.
6. Some parents are undecided about getting their children vaccinated. The most decisive consideration for them is that: vaccination is the best protection against permanent damages from being infected by COVID. It’s been reported that those who are vaccinated are:

• Less likely to need hospitalization;
• Less likely to need assistance from a breathing machine, if they are hospitalized; and
• Less likely to end up with death following COVID hospitalization

Watch the YouTube recording of this Community Dialog; continue to seek information from reputable sources citing scientific validation; and take action to protect yourself, your children, and your family.

Reported by Hong Nguyen-Phuong

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Is it safe to vaccinate our children against COVID-19? What are the main concerns about vaccinating our kids? You have questions, we have answers.

The California Department of Public Health, the Bay Youth and Ding Ding TV invites you to  Join us this Thursday, June 2^nd at 7 pm

Speakers: 

Dr. Dali Fan, Health Science Clinical Professor at UC Davis

Yurina Melara Valiulis, MS, PhD, Multiethnic Press Secretary
COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force

Guests: 

Liyan Zhao, 公众号《北美养娃那些事儿》创办人

Ruby Sun, President of Bay Coding Club

Joseph Shan, BAYouth Co-Founder, Junior of Lynbrook

Moderator: Diana Ding, Founder of Silicon Valley Community Media, Ding Ding TV

您孩子的COVID-19疫苗疑惑及误区，专家说

我们的孩子接种 COVID-19 疫苗是否安全？会不会造成身体的伤害？
加州公共卫生局及临床医学专家线上解答关于您孩子接种COVID-19疫苗的所有疑问。

加州公共卫生局，硅谷媒体中心， 丁丁电视，湾区青少年倡议会诚邀您参加6 月 2 日星期四晚上 7 点亚美网络免费活动《您孩子的COVID-19疫苗专家说》

主板：加州公共卫生局，硅谷媒体中心，丁丁电视

协办：Bay Coding Club , Bay Youth

主讲嘉宾：
Dali Fan 博士，加州大学戴维斯分校健康科学临床教授

Yurina Melera Valiulis，加州公共卫生局疫苗工作组博士

提问嘉宾：

Joseph Shan, BAYouth Co-Founder, Junior of Lynbrook

Liyan Zhao, 公众号《北美养娃那些事儿》创办人

Ruby Yiru Sun, Bay Coding Club 创办人

主持：硅谷媒体中心，丁丁电视创办人丁维平

Newsletter: 

https://conta.cc/3PWm9xd

WeChat:

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/woZnpban0j9EF5Jo796YrA

孩子打新冠疫苗，家长心里总是怕怕的？别怕！权威解答来了！