Vaccinated or not, everyone aged 2 or more to wear face mask inside school, American Academy of Pediatrics say

American Academy of Pediatrics recommends every child over the age of 2 to wear a face mask inside school regardless of vaccination status.

Since every school has different rules for vaccinated or unvaccinated children, it will be almost impossible for them to track the status and take of every student separately. Furthermore, the issue is becoming bigger knowing the fact that many children can’t receive the vaccine for different reasons.

As of now, the only vaccine approved for emergency use in children over the age of 12 is the Pfizer vaccine.

“Universal masking is the best and most effective strategy to create consistent messages, expectations, enforcement, and compliance without the added burden of needing to monitor vaccination status,” AAP said.

American Academy of Pediatrics added that another concerning factor lately is the Delta variant of the Covid-19 virus which is by far more contagious compared to all known previous variants. Latest studies show that even those fully vaccinated are not fully protected by the Delta variant.

In a recent delta variant outbreak in Oklahoma, 17 out of 47 fully vaccinated people between the age of 5-58 years tested positive on the virus.

Even though CDC called the recent increase of cases “pandemic of the unvaccinated,“ the recent Oklahoma outbreak confirms once again that even those fully vaccinated are not fully protected.

Having in mind all the above information, American Academy of Pediatrics says the best way to protect the children from the virus while in school is to make schools in-person as safe as possible. This will give everyone the opportunity to physically attend the classes.