Children's Health

A 6 year-old child holds a sticker she received after getting the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at the Child Health Associates office in Novi, Mich., on Nov. 3.

Health & Safety

What you can expect when vaccines become available for kids under 5

6:00am December 02, 2021

by Wynne Davis

Parents of children under 5 have to wait a little bit longer before COVID vaccines are available. In the meantime pediatricians are still working to increase vaccinations in the 5-11 age group.

Dr. Matifadza Hlatshwayo Davis, who directs the St. Louis Department of Health, has turned to social media platforms this week and to local clergy and community groups — the sort of trusted messengers people turn to in times of uncertainty — to help g

Sending the right message about the omicron variant is tricky

5:01am December 02, 2021

by Selena Simmons-Duffin

Scientists may not know for a couple weeks yet how risky the new coronavirus variant will be to public health. But getting out front now about what is known helps dispel misinformation, they say.

A boy scared to get his COVID shot whispered his high-risk friend's name for courage

4:56pm November 30, 2021

When 10-year-old Eli McKivigan went to get his first COVID vaccine, he was terrified of the needle. So he whispered his high-risk best friend's name to remind him why the shot was important.

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Three generations, (from left to right) grandmother Genoveva Calloway, daughter Petra Gonzales, and granddaughter Vanesa Quintero, live next door to each other in San Pablo, Calif. Recently their extended family was hit with a second wave of COVID infecti

COVID hit 13 members of their family the first time. A year later it struck again

9:06am November 27, 2021

by Lesley McClurg

The second time Vanessa Quintero's family caught the virus, probably from her 8-year-old daughter, fewer people got sick. They and their doctors credit the protection of vaccination.

COVID precautions keep students out of school, even if they just have the sniffles

9:56am November 20, 2021

Scott Simon speaks with Hedy Chang, founder and executive director of the non-profit Attendance Works, about absenteeism in schools during the pandemic.

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Two boys stand at the edge of the Buriganga River in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in July. A recent study finds that globally, boys and young men made up two-thirds of all deaths among young people in 2019.

Research sheds light on what's killing young people, especially boys and young men

5:45pm November 19, 2021

by Joanne Silberner

Globally, boys and young men made up two-thirds of all deaths among young people in 2019. A recent report finds that many such deaths in this "neglected" age group are preventable.

A look at the history of vaccines in schools.

Should schools require the COVID vaccine? Many experts say it's too soon

6:06am November 19, 2021

by Anya Kamenetz

School vaccine mandates have been around for two centuries, but they've always brought pushback.

LiceDoctors technician Linda Holmes checks the heads of everyone in the Marker family for lice, including preschooler Hudson. It cost more than $200 to get the four-person household checked — eyebrows and Dad's beard included.

Pandemic or no, kids are still getting — and spreading — head lice

12:58pm November 18, 2021

by Rae Ellen Bichell

With kids back in school, business is picking back up for professional delousers. But how are kids getting head lice if they're physically distancing in the classroom?

Teenager Sama Ahel was taught deep breathing to cope following the Gaza-Israel conflict in May.

Health & Safety

Deep breathing helps kids ease 'Gaza trauma'

8:42pm November 16, 2021

It's difficult to treat Gazans, said psychologist Ismael Ahel. "We can't just deal with the first trauma or the second trauma. It's a complexity of trauma." And children are deeply affected.

What the history of student vaccination mandates means for school COVID vaccine rules

4:52pm November 16, 2021

by Anya Kamenetz

School vaccine mandates go back 200 years. They've defeated many legal challenges. Will they work for COVID?

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