It finally happened. After a year and a half of being so careful, when we were less than a week away from being able to get our kids vaccinated, our oldest daughter woke up in the middle of the night not feeling good. By the afternoon, she had developed a fever, body aches, headache, sore throat, and a stuffy nose. We isolated her in her room right away since these are common symptoms of COVID-19. We did a telehealth visit, masked, in our garage with the door wide open and tried to minimize her contact with anyone else in the house before sending her back to isolation in her bedroom.
Why My Kids are Getting the COVID-19 Vaccine
The Positive COVID Result
The telehealth provider had us get her in for a COVID test right away. It felt likely from her symptoms, but it was still a shock to see “positive” on her test results in MyChart. The rest of the family tested on days two and five after exposure. We thought our youngest was in the clear because she tested negative on day two. But, on day five, she tested positive, though she showed no symptoms at that time. We had to isolate her from the rest of the family as well, and the clock started over again for the rest of the family as we count out five days from exposure and keep testing.
For the last week, we’ve been only seeing our sick kids on video chat. We leave cold medicine, ibuprofen, and food outside their door, and hope they are doing OK. Thankfully, neither of them seems to have a terrible case of COVID-19. They don’t feel great, and I wish that I could give each of them cuddles and be in the room to make sure they have everything they need. But, at this point, I think they’re going to be recovered in another week or so.
Avoiding Additional Positive Cases in Our Household
What I think is remarkable is that the members of our household who are fully vaccinated — are doing just fine. My husband and I were on the couch with our youngest snuggled up between us when her positive test results came back, so we certainly have had close contact. Yet, our COVID tests are still coming back negative. I know that vaccines are not perfect and breakthrough cases do happen. That’s why we’re isolating our kids from the rest of the family right now. But, our vaccines seem to be doing their job really well and it’s nothing short of amazing to me!
Why My Kids are Getting the COVID-19 Vaccine
I had to cancel my kids’ appointments for the COVID-19 vaccine because they have the virus. But I’m going to reschedule as soon as I possibly can because:
- I don’t want to worry that we’ll go through this again.
- I don’t want to worry that a future case will not be so mild.
- I don’t want to worry that my family has spread COVID in our community or to people we care about.
- While no vaccine is perfect, 90 percent effective is pretty close.
- I know that having my children vaccinated is going to give me a lot of peace of mind.
If you’d like to get your kids ages 5 and up vaccinated, too, there are a lot of opportunities in the Iowa City community for your child to receive the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.
Where You Can Get the Vaccine For Kids in the Iowa City Area
- Walk-up clinics are scheduled in the Iowa City Community School District Nov. 8-18, 2021
- University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics: Register through MyChart.
- Towncrest Pharmacy: Register Online
- HyVee Pharmacy: Register Online
- Walgreens: Register Online
I hope you and your loved ones stay healthy, especially as we approach the holiday season!
Just keep in mind you can still get and spread COVID even after being vaccinated… But of course it helps protect significantly! Thanks for sharing and the list of places to go at the end!