The plot to push parents to vaccinate their children for COVID

The National Governors Association wants parents to vaccinate their children for COVID-19 .

Yes, younger demographics are at incredibly low risk of dying from COVID. A team from Stanford even recently estimated the median infection fatality rate for people aged 0 to 19 to be 0.0003%.

YES, PUBLIC HEALTH OFFICIALS DID DELIBERATELY MAKE YOUR LIFE WORSE

No, the vaccines are not that effective at stopping infection or transmission. Everyone’s favorite infectious disease bureaucrat, Dr. Anthony Fauci, even acknowledged in an article he co-authored earlier this year that the available COVID vaccines are suboptimal.

According to Paul Offit , a member of the Food and Drug Administration’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, the boosters aren’t that good either.

And, oh yeah, these vaccines are not without risk, as described in detail by a group of senior medical professionals from Sweden and a human rights scholar in a public statement from January.

Yet, nonetheless, the National Governors Association, the nonpartisan organization of U.S. governors, wants parents to vaccinate their children for COVID-19.

The only problem is not all parents agree, perhaps due to some of the reasons enumerated above.

As of March 1, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, an estimated 15 million children between the ages of 6 months to 4 years had yet to receive their first COVID shot. Only 32% of 5- to 11-year-olds had completed their two-dose COVID vaccination series. And 58% of children 12 to 17 years old had their two-dose series.

Apparently anticipating this reluctance of parents to get their children vaccinated for COVID, the National Governors Association stated on its website earlier this month that last year it partnered with the Behavioral Insights Team, an organization that for practical purposes can be described as a market research firm that works to drive social change by nudging people to alter their behavior and support policies that might lead to the kind of change the firm or its clients desire.

For some sense of the work the Behavioral Insights Team does, recent projects include developing evidence-based actions for improving workplace equity and testing messaging campaigns to garner consumer support for a meat tax.

As part of its work with the National Governors Association to help market childhood COVID vaccination to reluctant parents, the Behavioral Insights Team crafted and tested messages delivered by a hypothetical pediatrician and composed of a recommendation that one vaccinate one’s child for COVID, sometimes preceded by different statements expressing varying levels of urgency or uncertainty regarding the dangers of a child not being vaccinated for COVID.

Although, for the most part, no meaningful differences in the effectiveness of the messaging strategies were found, the National Governors Association claimed this “underscores the potential need for states to work with pediatricians to engage in more intensive, informative conversations to better answer questions or alleviate concerns.”

The takeaway for the National Governors Association was that more work is needed to promote parental confidence in the COVID vaccines, as well as reduce hesitancy and combat purported misinformation.

At first glance, such a fruitless effort by the National Governors Association may seem easy to dismiss. As does the National Science Foundation funding a group of science communicators to fight “science-related misinformation” in black communities. As does the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funding the American College Health Association’s efforts to market COVID compliance to college students as a lifestyle brand. As does the “ Communications Cheat Sheet ” for “Vaccine Acceptance” on the Louisiana Department of Health’s website.

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However, collectively, these efforts are reflective of a larger, more unsettling tactic employed throughout the pandemic to subtly manipulate people into compliance with and acceptance of public health measures that have often lacked scientific support and gone against the better judgment of many Americans.

Daniel Nuccio is a Ph.D. student in biology and a regular contributor to the College Fix and the Brownstone Institute.