The number of children hospitalized with Covid-19 is soaring nationwide, especially as the highly transmissible omicron variant of the coronavirus spreads across the country, and children under 5 are not eligible for the vaccine yet. This variant on the other hand, may cause a milder illness like the cold in an adult fully vaccinated and boosted. This poem attempts to give a voice to the feelings of a parent whose child is sick with COVID.
I wear my heart on my sleeve
Words cannot express the way I grieve
To see you sick, to see you succumb
To this illness makes me go numb
Knowing that I have been spared, but you
Are going through this, what would I not do
For the powers above to make your disease
Afflict me, and you from its clutches release
The unfairness of the situation is brought in sharp relief
The adults got protection but in the mistaken belief
Of children being more resilient to illness, we decided we could
Lower our guard while our children would
Be exposed without any protection for now
While waiting for vaccine approval, we did allow
The section of our society most vulnerable
To the whims of adults, the ones unable
To voice an opinion- to go to school maskless, thinking they would be fine
So was my child until he got the illness, now for intervention divine
I wait, to make him recover quickly
While feelings of guilt gnaw at me
This was the situation, and nothing I could do
I protected myself with an extra shot, but I couldn’t protect you…
*
Parenting a sick child is hard no matter what
Knowing you evaded the illness that your child caught
Is hearbreaking, and I fervently pray
For you to get back to your old self today..
Passion...unbridled 
On the news last night was a fully vaccinated couple, but their 3-month old baby had Covid. How does that happen?!
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Fully vaccinated can get covid but remain asymptomatic and still transmit. The vaccine protects against severe illness, not against getting infected.
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Gosh, I hope their baby will be OK.
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Yes, we have a really messed up world & nothing gets better until we learn either the mistakes we make or how to right the wrongs that almost break us. Please remember when helping your child to give him/her what is best for them as opposed to letting them tell you what they need. We as adults are the teachers to our kids in that we give them the car, the food, the rest & the exercise they always need because if we don’t, there will always be other problems that we can’t afford to fix that can be costly overall.
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