The Gen Zer from Ohio who made a splash two years ago for defying his mother to get his childhood immunizations has a message for teenagers seeking Covid-19 vaccinations and getting pushback from their parents — get one if you can.
Ethan Lindenberger, 20, got his first dose three weeks ago and said doing so “could save someone’s life.”
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“Teens faced with this have to weigh things like ‘I know vaccines are lifesaving, but I don’t want to become homeless,’” he said. “So I tell them if you can’t have that loving conversation with your parents and you’re of age, weigh those consequences seriously.
“Don’t get yourself kicked out or seriously in trouble ... but, if you’re able to have that conversation, please get your shots as soon as possible,” he said.
Summer Johnson McGee, dean of the University of New Haven’s School of Health Sciences, said she wholeheartedly approves that message.
“Ethan’s advice is spot on for encouraging teens to undertake education and straight talk with parents about their desire to be vaccinated,” she said. “Teenagers who do not share their parents’ views on vaccination are in a tough spot, but should advocate for their own decision-making to be vaccinated if they wish.”
Lindenberger gained national attention in 2019 when he posted on Reddit that he had never been vaccinated because his mother believed that vaccines are dangerous. He wound up getting his shots over his mother’s objections and later testified before a Senate committee about how misinformation that appears on Facebook, Twitter and other social media fuels the anti-vaccination movement.
Doing so brought him both widespread praise from some but scorn and even death threats from the movement’s supporters.
Lindenberger spoke out as a nationwide push is on to get as many teenagers as possible vaccinated now that everyone over 12 is eligible to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccinations.
There are 25 million children ages 12 to 17, according to Census Bureau data compiled and analyzed by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. And while the rates of death or serious disease from Covid-19 are lower in children than in adults, public health experts have said getting this population vaccinated is a critically important step toward completely reopening the country’s schools and the economy.
Still, a recent poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Vaccine Monitor found that nearly a quarter of parents surveyed would not allow their teenagers to be vaccinated and 18 percent said they would do it only if the schools mandated it.
Parental consent is something children have to contend with across the country, but it’s not a one-size-fits-all approach as states have differing rules.
Nearly all states require consent from a parent or guardian to administer a Covid-19 vaccine shot to children ages 12 to 15, the group the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approved for shots this month, according to a recent CNN analysis.
There are exceptions in just five states: In North Carolina, teenagers can receive vaccinations without parental consent; in Tennessee and Alabama, teenagers 14 and older don’t need consent; in Oregon, the age is set at 15; and in Iowa, it’s up to the health care provider to decide.
In all other states, those 12 to 15 are required to have parental approval before receiving the Covid-19 vaccination. For teenagers 16 to 18, though, it’s all over the map.
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