I believe every family should have the right to make medical decisions for their child without the government’s overreach. Before making a decision on a COVID vaccine mandate for children, every official should look at the public data available in the VAERS database, more specifically the severe reactions that have occurred in teens — and then they need to decide if they can live with doing irreparable damage to even a small percentage of children. Because of the prevalence of negative side effects, many advanced countries have decided that adolescents should receive only a single dose as opposed to the three-week spaced double dose. However, the  U.S. has refused to discuss the gray area as a nation — everything is black and white with no compromise. And yet, every  child is unique with their own medical history, metabolic rate, and some children who have had COVID already may have some level of natural immunity, potentially increasing the chance for negative vaccine side effects. I am not personally against the vaccine, but I do stand with parents and their rights to make the best medical decisions for their children. I won’t be gaslighted into believing that we are an “irrational minority.”