I urge the VDH not to make the COVID-19 shots mandatory for children in Virginia. The Hippocratic Oath says, first do no harm. The benefit of a medical treatment must outweigh the risks. 

The shots have proven to be of very little benefit in stopping the spread or severity of COVID-19. Data from the Pfizer clinical trial has shown that the minimal immunity that children have immediately after each shot wanes quickly, and that after only four months children are actually more likely to catch COVID-19 than if they had never received the shot in the first place.  More recent data has shown that children who have received the shot actually have more severe symptoms than those who chose not to take the shots. So, as a "vaccine" the shots are a failure--very little benefit to the shot recipient or to the community at large. 

What about the risks? The clinical trials for all of the COVID-19 shots showed alarmingly high rates of severe adverse effects including heart attacks, strokes, blood clots, myocarditis, pericarditis, neurological effects, and autoimmune effects in children as well as in adults. Children are at extremely low risk for death or severe illness from COVID-19, so the risks of the shots far outweigh the benefits for healthy children, and children with pre-existing conditions should be consulting their own doctors to determine their personal risk/benefit profiles. 

The COVID-19 shots have been rushed through on emergency approvals with compromised short-term testing and no long-term testing, and the short-term results seen to date have already proven that they are dangerous and should never have been approved for children.  The pharmaceutical companies  will be shielded from liability for injuries if these shots are added to the childhood immunization schedule, and they stand to gain trillions in taxpayer dollars from endless booster shots. Thus, any board members who have employment or financial relationships with pharmaceutical companies or major health networks should recuse themselves from regulatory decisions regarding the COVID-19 shots.  I urge the VDH not to mandate the Covid shots for children in Virginia.  The VDH needs to end its practice of accepting CDC recommendations for mandatory childhood immunizations and instead conduct a risk/benefit analysis to make an ethical decision regarding the safety of Virginia's precious children.