With new vaccine mandates and children between 5-11 now eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine, Language Lizard has bilingual resources to help your children understand the history and value of vaccines.
New Vaccine Eligibility for Young Children
On November 2nd, 2021, the CDC announced their authorization of the COVID-19 vaccine for children between the ages of 5 and 11 years old. This age group makes up a third of the total number of children under the age of 18. Altogether, these kids represent about 13% of the United States population. Making sure that children take the COVID-19 vaccine will decrease the spread of the virus and protect them from severe side effects.
At Language Lizard, we have spoken about the importance of the COVID-19 vaccine and given examples about how we work together to maintain a healthy community. Knowing that they are doing their part to help slow down a global pandemic can decrease our children’s stress and make them feel like superheroes.
Talk to Your Children About Vaccines
Parents, teachers, and community leaders have been talking about the COVID-19 pandemic for what feels like forever. You most likely know how to talk to your children and students about the virus. If you are still unsure, UNICEF has a great list of ideas. Importantly, we must be calm, honest, and realistic. It is necessary to discuss what steps you can take to decrease your exposure and what to do when you think you’ve become sick.
When teaching children about the importance of vaccines in the fight against COVID-19, we must remind them how our body works when it gets sick. You may even consider pairing these lessons with a book about the human body.
Families from non-English speaking homes must also have access to accurate information in their home language. For that reason, Language Lizard published Vaccines Explained, which describes how vaccines work, their history, and why they are important.
Language Lizard’s Vaccines Explained is available in English and as a bilingual book in twelve other languages – Arabic, Chinese, French, Haitian Creole, Hindi, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Somali, Spanish, Swahili, and Vietnamese. To help you further, this book comes with a multicultural lesson plan, resources for additional child-friendly information on vaccines, and English audio of the book.
How have you talked to young children about getting the vaccine? Tell us below or talk to us on social media with #VaccinesExplained #ScienceForKids