I'm writing to urge that you decline to mandate the Covid vaccines for children in the state of Virginia. The risk of death from this disease in this age group remains a 0.003%. Currently VAERS has more than 700,000 reports of injuries and complications related to these vaccines. This is much greater than any other vaccine in the past. There are many treatments now available for the virus, which is becoming more endemic than pandemic, as many also are developing natural immunities. My concern  is that mandating anything increases resistance to it, and will possibly make parents more resistant to bringing their children in for other life-saving medical care and vaccines. I am by no means anti-vaccine, but I am opposed to mandating that children receive these very new and poorly tested ones--especially for a virus that is minimally risky for their age group. I'm also concerned about mandating that children who have already recovered from Covid be vaccinated, and the risk of auto-immune disease in this population (another area not well studied yet). You risk a mass exodus of children and families from the school system, as they search for alternatives.