Parents skeptical of COVID-19 vaccine
City of Norwalk photo
NORWALK – Norwalk celebrated Halloween with an outdoor community event at Hermosillo Park on Oct. 29.
Halloween celebrations were held at three parks in the city to avoid large gatherings due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We wanted to have something to offer the community, but we couldn’t do it at the level we normally do at city hall lawn,” said councilwoman Margarita Rios. “Staff recommended we do something like this, so we picked three parks to do it.”
Some attendees chose to wear a mask, although they were not required at the event.
The CDC recommends that unvaccinated individuals wear a mask in crowded outdoor settings.
The event mostly consisted of children under 12 years - old, who were not eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine. Kids appeared to have fun as they huddled together at the center stage to be judged for their costumes and played games to earn candy.
Earlier that week the FDA took the first steps to approve the vaccine for children under 12 years-old, but some parents planned to wait before allowing their kids to receive the medicine once it became available.
“I’m not too confident that it’s safe,” said Alix Valencia, mother of Malachi Jake, five.
Valencia brought her son to the park to have fun, and participate in the costume contest. She said the virus was not of concern to her when they came to the park.
“I’ve seen with a lot of vaccines people get bad reactions,” said Valencia. “My family members got it, and they’ve complained that their knees started to hurt.”
Muscle pain and fatigue are some of the symptoms of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Doctors continue to emphasize that the benefits outweigh the negatives when receiving the vaccine, saying the effects of the COVID-19 virus are far worse than the side-effects of the vaccine.
Other parents remained skeptical of the vaccine, but were still making a final decision on allowing their children to receive the vaccine.
Iesbro Cisneros wanted to bring his son Anthony, nine, to the event so he could interact with other kids. He made sure Anthony wore his mask during the celebration as protection from the virus.
The young boy and his mother created a macaroni & cheese costume for the event.
“[Getting him vaccinated] is something his mother and I are still discussing,” said Cisneros. “We are not vaccinated either.”
Councilwoman Rios conducts outreach to encourage people to get vaccinated, and encourages parents to consider getting their children vaccinated as well.
“I do a lot of my personal outreach to stress the importance of getting a vaccine,” said Rios. “I chose to get the vaccine because we had loss in our family due to COVID. If we have something in place to protect our youth, then parents should seriously consider that option for them.”
According to the California Department of Public Health 120,899 cases of COVID were found in children under five, and 565,915 COVID cases were found in kids aged five -17 in the state.
Since the event, the Pfizer vaccine was approved for children aged five -11 years-old. Doctors continue to encourage parents to vaccinate their kids and have addressed frequently asked questions about the vaccine.