Today, I’m going to weigh in on a topic of incredible importance to me: my kids. I’m sure your kids are pretty good, too, but for me, mine are the driver behind everything I do.

The past year has been an epic failure. Putting aside the irresponsible growth in the national debt, and the financial burden that will put on them, the kids of today have been put in an impossible spot. The sports and clubs they do to develop life skills have been scaled back or cancelled. Many are still not in person and let’s be honest, those who could afford it, put their kids in private schools, and paid to play. Unfortunately, like the airlines, booze in first class, none in coach. Different rules apply. Families with young kids were told to coordinate children under 10 on Zoom calls and many times, even in person classes were limited to a few hours during the middle of the day.  Personally, I’m zoomed out and I don’t even manage anyone, I can’t imagine being a kid.  That we have to get kids back to normalcy as soon as possible is the understatement of the century.

Which brings me to the vaccine and a taboo topic.  These truths we hold as self evident:  80.7% of the people in the U.S. who have died with/of covid have been over 65.  78% of those hospitalized (and those who ultimately died) were overweight or obese.  We know who is at risk.  We know the steps that can be taken to avoid risk.  And now we have a vaccine that at worst will help reduce severity of covid and at best, will reduce the spread.  You do you. Absolutely,100% I believe that. Personal responsibility and intellectual consistency are two of the things I value most outside of my kids. So is data.  There are ~74 mm people under 18 in the U.S., of which 208 have died with/of COVID. Of the ~60 mm who have received the first dose vaccine (~32 million have had the second, which arguably is the correct denominator), 1,637 have died.

We used to give “morning sickness” pills to pregnant women, and later found out that they might be linked to birth defects.  Women don’t drink alcohol and are told not to eat unpasteurized cheese during their pregnancy.  So I’ll say it, there is ZERO chance I’m vaccinating my kids.  That’s going to make a vaccine passport a very hard thing to pass, and we absolutely should be having this discussion.  Risk, reward is a thing and I’ll say it with no reservations: the loss of a single healthy child as a result of a vaccine is unacceptable.