#NNPA BlackPress

No Evidence Excess Deaths Linked to Vaccines, Contrary to Claims Online

SciCheck Digest COVID-19 vaccines substantially reduce the risk of dying from COVID-19, and serious side effects are very rare. Excess deaths among working-age adults in 2021 and 2022 were driven by COVID-19 and other factors, not vaccination. Faulty logic underlies claims that vaccines caused mass disability and economic harm. Full Story COVID-19 vaccination reduces the […]
The post No Evidence Excess Deaths Linked to Vaccines, Contrary to Claims Online first appeared on BlackPressUSA.

Published

2 years ago

April 17, 2023

Forward Times Staff

SciCheck Digest

COVID-19 vaccines substantially reduce the risk of dying from COVID-19, and serious side effects are very rare. Excess deaths among working-age adults in 2021 and 2022 were driven by COVID-19 and other factors, not vaccination. Faulty logic underlies claims that vaccines caused mass disability and economic harm.

Full Story

COVID-19 vaccination reduces the risk of death from the disease, including in young adults.

Despite overwhelming evidence that COVID-19 vaccines have mitigated the effects of the pandemic, a report called the Vaccine Damage Project, or V-Damage Project, claims that they led to 310,000 excess deaths among Americans ages 25 through 64 in 2021 and 2022. It also baselessly claims the vaccines had a “significant impact” on the number of Americans with disabilities and that COVID-19 vaccines were the “most likely cause” for a large increase in work absences.

The report, which uses the faulty estimates of excess deaths, disabilities and injuries to calculate economic damages, appears on the website of Phinance Technologies — a firm that offers subscriptions to financial reports and consulting services. Phinance says it plans to launch an investment fund.

The alleged findings of the V-Damage Project have been shared widely on social media. Edward Dowd, a founding partner of Phinance Technologies, baselessly tweeted that the “estimated human cost” of the vaccines was 26.6 million injuries, 1.36 million disabilities and 300,000 excess deaths. Dowd has repeatedly said that COVID-19 vaccines are causing large numbers of deaths, claims that have been debunked by other fact-checkers.

Excess deaths associated with the pandemic did continue in 2021 and 2022, but there is no evidence COVID-19 vaccines caused this phenomenon. COVID-19 continued to kill hundreds of thousands of American adults, including nearly 200,000 under age 65 during those two years.

Deaths due to drug overdoses, motor vehicle accidents and alcohol also rose in adults ages 25 to 44 in 2020 and again in 2021, according to Ellen Meara, a professor of health economics and policy at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. (She told us in an email that the available data don’t yet provide a complete picture of 2022.)

“COVID-19 vaccines are the best tool to prevent and reduce complications due to COVID-19,” Lisa George, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention public affairs specialist, told us in an email. “These vaccines are safe and effective and have undergone the most extensive safety monitoring in U.S. history.”

The number of Americans with disabilities also increased in 2021 and 2022, but negative effects from vaccines are unlikely to explain this rise, given the vaccines’ good safety profile. Finally, sickness-related workplace absences began to rise in 2020, before vaccines were available. A spike in absences in early 2022 coincided with the omicron wave.

Excess Deaths Have a Variety of Causes

Since early in the pandemic, the CDC has been tallying excess deaths — a measure that compares the number of expected deaths in a time period to the actual number of deaths that occur.

The CDC calculates expected deaths assuming the pandemic had not happened, although it notes that “it is increasingly difficult to predict what trends in mortality would have looked like had the pandemic not occurred.”

There have been more than 1.3 million excess deaths in the U.S. since Feb. 1, 2020, according to CDC’s calculation. Many of these are known to be directly the result of COVID-19. Other deaths, the agency explains, could “represent misclassified COVID-19 deaths, or potentially could be indirectly related to the COVID-19 pandemic.” These could include, for example, deaths occurring because of overburdened hospitals, or because of upticks in car crashes or drug overdoses. Especially early in the pandemic, many COVID-19 deaths were missed because of a lack of testing.

According to CDC data, there have been more than 300,000 excess deaths since the beginning of the pandemic if those listing COVID-19 as a cause are excluded. Again, some of these deaths could still be due to COVID-19, but the disease was not listed as an underlying or contributing cause of death.

The V-Damage Project calculates excess deaths due to vaccination using faulty logic.

The report first reasonably states that it’s difficult to distinguish causes of death at the population level. It goes on to incorrectly say: “Starting in the summer of 2021, however, with the introduction of mass vaccinations, the rise in natural immunity by exposure to the virus, and the emergence of milder and more contagious virus strains such as Omicron, it is difficult to argue if Covid-19 had a significant role in excess mortality. Therefore, we can use the total excess mortality in 2021 and 2022 as an estimate for vaccine-related deaths, or at least an estimated upper limit for the vaccine damage.”

There are several things wrong with this statement. First, a substantial number of people died from COVID-19 in the second half of 2021 and in 2022. By the start of summer 2021, there had been a little more than 600,000 COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. The death toll had risen to nearly 1.1 million by the end of 2022. And while the proportion of COVID-19 deaths in older versus younger adults increased over this time period, COVID-19 continued to kill people under age 65.

As noted in a HealthFeedback article discussing a prior claim from Dowd about excess deaths, the timing of excess deaths during the pandemic indicates they are closely tied to COVID-19 deaths, not vaccination. An article from the Associated Press further notes that to show a relationship between vaccines and deaths, one would need to show that vaccinated people — and not unvaccinated people — died at elevated rates. The V-Damage Project doesn’t provide information on deaths in vaccinated versus unvaccinated people.

Second, omicron has been far from benign. Research shows that per infection, omicron has been less severe than earlier variants, in large part because more people have some immunity, either from infection, vaccination or both. There is also some evidence that omicron is naturally less virulent than the delta variant that directly preceded it, although omicron appears to be about as virulent as the original virus.

But omicron spreads more readily to close contacts than delta, and vaccination is less effective at blocking transmission. This all added up to a record-breaking wave of COVID-19 cases in late 2021 and early 2022, which came with significant deaths.

Third, the effects of the pandemic have been complex, and excess deaths related to the pandemic likely have multiple causes. Deaths due to drug overdoses, cardiometabolic disorders and other diseases were already increasing in younger Americans in the decade leading up to the pandemic. The pandemic “accentuated the pre-existing mid-life mortality crisis” in the U.S., researchers wrote in a 2022 study published in Nature Human Behavior.

As we’ve mentioned, deaths due to drug overdoses, alcohol and motor vehicle accidents all increased in young adults in the U.S. in 2020 and 2021. A recent CDC report also shows an increase in suicides in 2021, including in young adult males.

Finally, there is no evidence that COVID-19 vaccines have killed large numbers of people. The Food and Drug Administration and CDC have multiple systems for monitoring vaccine safety, and they have detected very few deaths caused by the vaccines.

According to a CDC web page updated last month, nine deaths have been linked to a rare clotting disorder caused by the Johnson and Johnson vaccine. “CDC and FDA continue to review reports of death following COVID-19 vaccination and update information as it becomes available,” the web page says.

In fact, the evidence shows that the vaccines have saved lives. Meara pointed to a paper published in the Journal of the American Medical Association that compared death rates in June 2021 through March 2022 in the 10 states with the highest COVID-19 vaccination rates with the primary series versus the 10 states with the lowest rates. Per 100,000 people, there were 75 COVID-19 deaths in the most vaccinated states versus 146 in the least vaccinated states. Excess deaths from all causes were also lower in states with a high proportion of vaccinated individuals.

Serious Adverse Events from COVID-19 Vaccines Are Very Rare

It is unlikely that serious and severe adverse events from COVID-19 vaccines led to rising numbers of people with disabilities in 2021 and 2022, contrary to claims in the V-Damage report.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics regularly carries out a nationally representative survey, called the Current Population Survey, of around 60,000 U.S. households. The survey data do show an increase in people reporting disabilities in 2021 and 2022.

But Sean Smith, an economist with the Current Population Survey at the BLS, told us in an email that the survey data cannot be used to identify specific disabilities. “We cannot determine from the questions asked if the disability is related to COVID or to an adverse reaction to a vaccine,” he said.

A November 2022 working paper from the nonprofit National Bureau of Economic Research pointed out that, beginning in the second quarter of 2021, the initial rise in the disability rate likely occurred because some people missed earlier interviews and were asked questions about disability in subsequent surveys. “However, since then the rising prevalence of Long COVID and other new sources of disability signal that the increase may reflect an actual increase in the number of [people with disability],” the researchers wrote.

There is extensive data available on the safety of the COVID-19 vaccines, and these data indicate it is unlikely that they caused a significant number of disabilities. The vast majority of side effects following vaccination — like fever and pain at the injection site — are temporary and are not serious.

The V-Damage Report also relies on a paper written by emergency medicine physician Dr. Joseph Fraiman and colleagues to argue that vaccine damages led to the rise in disabilities. As we’ve previously explained, the paper makes an unsubstantiated claim about adverse events based on a flawed reanalysis of the clinical trials of the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna mRNA vaccines.

In reality, serious adverse events were uncommon in large, randomized mRNA vaccine trials and occurred at a similar rate among people who got the vaccines and those who got the placebos.

Finally, the V-Damage report makes unsubstantiated claims that data from v-safe — a text messaging-based system that prompts people to report on their health after vaccination — show a concerning pattern of hospitalization. “Our analysis shows that during the vaccine rollout process, the CDC had live real world data that corroborated the safety signals observed in the clinical trials,” the report says.

In fact, a 2022 analysis of data from v-safe and another vaccine monitoring system called the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System showed that most reported adverse events from mRNA vaccines during the first six months of the vaccination program were “mild and short in duration.”

As we’ve previously explained, less than 1% of people enrolled in v-safe sought medical care in the week after each vaccine dose. An even smaller number, less than 0.1%, were hospitalized in the week after receiving each dose. Further, v-safe prompts participants to report any health event or hospitalization, not just ones they believe are related to vaccination. Similarly, VAERS accepts reports of any post-vaccination event, regardless of the cause.

Work Absences Part of Larger Pandemic Trend

Many people take time off from work temporarily due to minor side effects from COVID-19 vaccines, but these absences do not explain a larger pattern of increasing absences since 2020.

The V-Damage Project uses data on side effects from the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine to claim that full-time workers experienced injuries from COVID-19 vaccines and that the vaccines caused “a degradation of individuals’ immune systems.” But as we’ve noted, very few side effects were serious or lasting, and there is no evidence the vaccines harm the immune system.

The report goes on to cite data from the BLS to claim that these vaccine “injuries” led to absences from work. But work absences due to “own illness, injury, or medical problems” increased at the start of the pandemic, according to Smith, the BLS economist. When counting absences that lasted the entire week, absences due to sickness reached 1.3 million in March 2020 and 2 million in April 2020 — then a record-high number.

The V-Damage Project acknowledges this early-pandemic increase — prior to the arrival of vaccines — but says that the “largest rise in absence rates was in 2022” and that this “occurred after the main impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.”

However, the unusually large number of sickness-related absences in 2022 can be attributed to a spike at the beginning of the year.

Sickness-related absences “further increased to a series high of 3.6 million in January 2022, however this measure dropped to 1.6 million in February 2022 and since then has been similar to the average levels seen in 2020 and 2021,” Smith told us in an email.

As before with disabilities, Smith said that BLS does not have information on the type of illness that caused people to miss work.

But it is worth noting that omicron cases peaked in the U.S. in early 2022, breaking prior records for weekly COVID-19 cases. The BLS data on absences appear more closely tied to COVID-19 cases than vaccinations.

Emma Xiaolu Zang, an assistant professor of sociology at Yale University, who has done research on illness-related work absences early in the pandemic, told us via email that absences in 2022 were likely part of a longer-term pattern of COVID-19-related absences.

“COVID vaccines were unlikely to be the reason for the spike in [sickness-related absences], which started in early 2020,” Zang said.

Editor’s note: SciCheck’s articles correcting health misinformation are made possible by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The foundation has no control over FactCheck.org’s editorial decisions, and the views expressed in our articles do not necessarily reflect the views of the foundation.

If you have a question about COVID-19, email Ask SciCheck, a project of FactCheck.org, at AskSciCheck@FactCheck.org. Tell them you are a reader of the Houston Forward Times. You can read previous Ask SciCheck answers here.

Sources

“Impact of Vaccination on Risk of COVID-19–Related Mortality.” CDC website. Updated 16 Nov 2022.

“Evidence Shows That COVID-19 Vaccines Don’t Increase the Risk of Death, Contrary to Claim by Financier Edward Dowd.” Health Feedback. 11 Jan 2023.

“COVID-19 Vaccines Did Not Cause Excess Deaths among Millennials.” AP News. 26 Mar 2022.

“Excess Deaths Associated with COVID-19.” CDC website. Updated 12 Apr 2023.

“COVID-19 Death Data and Resources: Weekly Updates by Select Demographic and Geographic Characteristics.” CDC website. Updated 12 Apr 2023.

Meara, Ellen. “Excess Deaths In A Time Of Dual Public Health Crises: Parsing The Effects Of The Pandemic, Drug Overdoses, And Recession: Study Examines Excess Deaths from COVID-19, Drug Overdoses, and Recession in the US.” Health Affairs. Nov 2022.

Meara, Ellen. Email sent to FactCheck.org. 6 Apr 2023.

George, Lisa. CDC. Email sent to FactCheck.org. 6. Apr 2023.

“(unadj) Population – With a disability, Women.” Bureau of Labor Statistics Data. Accessed 13 Apr 2023.

“(unadj Population – With a disability, Men.” Bureau of Labor Statistics Data. Accessed 13 Apr. 2023.

“How Safe Are the Vaccines?” FactCheck.org. Updated 17 May 2022.

Lyttelton, Thomas and Zang, Emma. “Occupations and Sickness-Related Absences during the COVID-19 Pandemic.” Journal of Health and Social Behavior. 31 Jan 2022.

“(Unadj) Employed – With a job, not at work, Own illness.” Bureau of Labor Statistics Data. Accessed 13 Apr. 2023.

“Excess Deaths Associated with COVID-19.” CDC website. Internet Archive, Wayback Machine. Archived 30 Apr 2020.

“Trends in Number of COVID-19 Cases and Deaths in the US Reported to CDC, by State/Territory.” CDC COVID Data Tracker. 13 Apr 2023.

Freed, Meredith et al. “Deaths Among Older Adults Due to COVID-19 Jumped During the Summer of 2022 Before Falling Somewhat in September.” KFF. 6 Oct 2022.

Faust, Jeremy Samuel, et al. “Excess Mortality in Massachusetts During the Delta and Omicron Waves of COVID-19.” JAMA. 20 May 2022.

Nyberg, Tommy et al. “Comparative Analysis of the Risks of Hospitalisation and Death Associated with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron (B.1.1.529) and Delta (B.1.617.2) Variants in England: A Cohort Study.” Lancet. 2 Apr 2022.

Wong, Jessica Y. et al. “Intrinsic and effective severity of COVID-19 cases infected with the ancestral 2 strain and Omicron BA.2 variant in Hong Kong.” medRxiv. 21 Feb 2023.

Allen, Hester et al. “Comparative Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron (B.1.1.529) and Delta (B.1.617.2) Variants and the Impact of Vaccination: National Cohort Study, England.” Epidemiology & Infection. 20 Mar 2023.

Woolf, Steven H. et al. “Changes in Life Expectancy Between 2019 and 2020 in the US and 21 Peer Countries.” JAMA Network Open. 13 Apr 2022.

Yong, Ed. “America Was in an Early-Death Crisis Long Before COVID.” The Atlantic. 21 Jul 2022.

Schöley, Jonas et al. “Life Expectancy Changes since COVID-19.” Nature Human Behaviour. 17 Oct 2022.

Todd, Megan and Scheeres, Annaka. “Excess Mortality From Non–COVID-19 Causes During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 2020–2021.” American Journal of Public Health. Dec 2022.

“How Do We Know Vaccines Are Safe?” FactCheck.org. Updated 8 Jul 2021.

“Selected Adverse Events Reported after COVID-19 Vaccination.” CDC website. Updated 7 Mar 2023.

Robertson, Lori. “A Guide to Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 Vaccine.” FactCheck.org. Updated 6 May 2022.

Bilinski, Alyssa et al. “COVID-19 and Excess All-Cause Mortality in the US and 20 Comparison Countries, June 2021-March 2022.” JAMA. 18 Nov 2022.

Smith, Sean. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Email sent to FactCheck.org via press officer. 6 Apr 2023.

Ne’eman, Ari and Nicole Maestas. “How Has COVID-19 Impacted Disability Employment?” National Bureau of Economic Research. Nov 2022.

Jaramillo, Catalina and McDonald, Jessica. “DeSantis’ Dubious COVID-19 Vaccine Claims.” FactCheck.org. Updated 5 Jan 2023.

McDonald, Jessica. “A Guide to Pfizer/BioNTech’s COVID-19 Vaccine.” FactCheck.org. Updated 27 Sep 2022.

McDonald, Jessica. “A Guide to Moderna’s COVID-19 Vaccine.” FactCheck.org. Updated 27 Sep 2022.

Baden, Lindsey R. et al. “Efficacy and Safety of the MRNA-1273 SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine.” New England Journal of Medicine. 4 Feb 2021.

Polack, Fernando P. et al. “Safety and Efficacy of the BNT162b2 MRNA Covid-19 Vaccine.” New England Journal of Medicine. 31 Dec 2020.

Rosenblum, Hannah G. et al. “Safety of MRNA Vaccines Administered during the Initial 6 Months of the US COVID-19 Vaccination Programme: An Observational Study of Reports to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System and v-Safe.” The Lancet Infectious Diseases. 7 Mar 2022.

Jaramillo, Catalina. “Posts Distort Misleading Analysis of COVID-19 Vaccine Safety Data.” FactCheck.org. 28 Oct 2022.

“See How Vaccinations Are Going in Your County and State.” The New York Times. Updated 20 Oct 2022.

Zang, Emma Xiaolu. Email sent to FactCheck.org. 9 Apr 2023.

The post No Evidence Excess Deaths Linked to Vaccines, Contrary to Claims Online appeared first on Houston Forward Times.

The post No Evidence Excess Deaths Linked to Vaccines, Contrary to Claims Online first appeared on BlackPressUSA.

Forward Times Staff

Posts by Forward Times Staff

Up Next

VP Harris Unveils $1 Billion African Investment During Historic Continent Visit

Don't Miss

Welcome to Luxury

Forward Times Staff

Click to comment

#NNPA BlackPress

Supreme Court Decision Confirms Convicted Felon Will Assume Presidency

NNPA NEWSWIRE — In a 5-4 ruling, the court stated that Trump’s concerns could “be addressed in the ordinary course on appeal” and emphasized that the burden of sentencing was “relatively insubstantial” given that Trump will not face prison time. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined the court’s three liberal justices in the majority, with four conservative justices dissenting.

Published

5 days ago

January 10, 2025

Stacy M. Brown

By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
@StacyBrownMedia

The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected President-elect Donald Trump’s emergency request to block criminal proceedings in his New York hush money case, ensuring that a sentencing hearing will proceed as scheduled on Friday. The decision makes it official that, on January 20, for the first time in its history, the United States will inaugurate a convicted felon as its president.

In a 5-4 ruling, the court stated that Trump’s concerns could “be addressed in the ordinary course on appeal” and emphasized that the burden of sentencing was “relatively insubstantial” given that Trump will not face prison time. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined the court’s three liberal justices in the majority, with four conservative justices dissenting.

Trump was convicted in May for falsifying business records related to a $130,000 payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg argued that the Supreme Court lacked jurisdiction to intervene in a state criminal case, particularly before all appeals in state courts were exhausted.

Trump’s legal team claimed the sentencing process would interfere with his transition to power and argued that evidence introduced during the trial included official actions protected under the Supreme Court’s prior ruling granting former presidents immunity for official conduct. Merchan, the New York judge who presided over the trial, ruled in December that the evidence presented was unrelated to Trump’s duties as president.

Prosecutors dismissed Trump’s objections, stating that the sentencing would take less than an hour and could be attended virtually. They said the public interest in proceeding to sentencing outweighed the President-elect’s claims of undue burden.

Justice Samuel Alito, one of the four dissenting justices, confirmed speaking to Trump by phone on Wednesday. Alito insisted the conversation did not involve the case, though the call drew criticism given his previous refusals to recuse himself from politically sensitive matters.

The sentencing hearing is set for Friday at 9:30 a.m. in Manhattan. As the nation moves closer to an unprecedented inauguration, questions about the implications of a convicted felon assuming the presidency remain.

“No one is above the law,” Bragg said.

Stacy M. Brown

Posts by Stacy M. Brown

#NNPA BlackPress

How Head Start Installs Confidence for Two Generations

NNPA NEWSWIRE — Head Start is a changemaker for all communities. Child by child, family by family, the seeds that are sowed continue to blossom as they stretch higher and higher toward the sunshine.

Published

1 week ago

January 6, 2025

Oakland Post

By Olivia Harvey

The founders of Head Start have always viewed parents as critical partners in their work to educate young children. They also understood that this partnership meant parents should help decide which services would most benefit their families and those in the community. As a result, Head Start created a formal leadership and policymaking role for parents and community members called the Policy Council.

Thank you to Head Start parent, Policy Council member, and alumna Olivia Harvey for recently sharing her story.

A few years ago my daughter Maliya was six years old and had just started kindergarten, after graduating from the Children First Head Start program in Sarasota County, Florida. It was hard to believe we’d reached this major milestone, but with all the love, care, and guidance she received from her incredible teachers, I’m confident that she will continue to blossom and thrive. Children First and the Head Start program have always been close to my heart, and the hearts of my family. My husband Malik is also a proud Head Start graduate along with some members of his family. He’s a wonderful support system and understands our shared mission of raising the healthiest, happiest family possible. Our lives are centered around family, and in addition to Maliya, we also have two other children, our sons Jeremiah and King. When we had our kids, we knew we didn’t have to look far to find quality, affordable childcare with amazing teachers we could trust. With the challenges we were facing, we knew we could turn to Children First’s Head Start program to help us find our path to success.

My family has been involved with Children First since Jeremiah was a toddler. Our family advocate, Ernestine, was there for Maliya and our entire family every step of the way. I know that even when my daughter is in high school, Ernestine will be there in a heartbeat if we ever need anything. The teachers care so deeply about the kids, and they never forget their faces. One day, Maliya came home with a photo taken by her teacher, Miss LaTonda. It was a baby picture of me because Miss LaTonda had been my teacher as well. I couldn’t believe she had kept it for all these years! It was such a special memory to share with my daughter, and it’s moments like this that let me know we will always be a part of the Children First family. Through Head Start, I also found a lot of support personally and as a parent. Due to the pandemic, I had reduced hours and was forced to seek other employment. During this time, I needed something that would allow me to feel professional and help me keep my skills up while at the same time offering me the flexibility to be a mom.

Luckily, Children First was offering a Job Skills Training Course as part of the agency’s Family Strengthening services. The class was perfect because it provided a sense of accountability and belonging. I learned about identifying and overcoming obstacles related to employment, and there was a special focus on resume writing, interviews, and ‘acing’ the first 90 days at a new job, which has benefited me! After a mock interview with my vocational family advocate Laura and her colleagues, I felt so confident with the skills that I had learned, and I decided to reach a higher goal in the workforce. I was offered a position at Sarasota School of the Arts & Sciences, where I have been working as a paraprofessional. While working full-time, I’ve also had the opportunity to go back to school to earn my bachelor’s degree to become a history or math teacher. My ambitions have led me to be a working professional, a full-time mom, and now, a student, but I’m not stopping there. In the future, I would like to earn my master’s degree and work as an administrator, with one of my ultimate goals being to run for the school board.

Because of Children First, Head Start, and my vocational coach, Laura, it feels like a whole new world of possibilities has opened. While I was unexpectedly unemployed but fighting to stay engaged, I was supported every step of the way. Laura and the team at Children First continue to guide me and my family on our journey to success. Although we still face unique challenges, I feel grateful and am so proud of how far we’ve come. Because Malik and I were able to grow and thrive in a healthy environment at the earliest stages of our lives, the lives of our children have been transformed for the better. Right now, some parents, families, and caregivers are struggling financially and socially. They need lower childcare prices, full workday hours with childcare coverage, and free transportation to and from daycare.

Head Start is a changemaker for all communities. Child by child, family by family, the seeds that are sowed continue to blossom as they stretch higher and higher toward the sunshine. Their promise is simple: every child, regardless of circumstances at birth, can reach their full potential. As I look to the future — from my youngest child thriving, to earning my teaching degree, to raising my beautiful children alongside my husband and beyond that, I know that thanks to Head Start, there is nothing to fear.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

#NNPA BlackPress

Cold Weather Safety for Children

NNPA NEWSWIRE — Keep babies’ cribs free of stuffed animals and blankets. A firm mattress covered with a tight-fitting crib sheet is all that an infant needs to sleep safely.

Published

2 weeks ago

December 30, 2024

Oakland Post

By The Head Start Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center

Children are more vulnerable than adults to the effects of cold weather. The Head Start Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center developed these tips to help families and staff keep children safe, healthy, and warm in the winter.

Bundle up!

Children are at greater risk for frostbite than adults. The best way to prevent frostbite is to make sure children dress warmly and don’t spend too much time outside in extreme weather.
Dress children in layers of warm clothing. If the top layer gets wet, they will still have a dry layer underneath.
Tuck scarves inside coats and jackets to prevent them from becoming strangulation hazards.
Car seats and winter coats don’t mix. Bulky coats can compress in a crash and create a loose car seat harness. Instead, lay the jacket or a blanket over the children once you’ve safely strapped them into their car seat.

Keeping Healthy Outdoors

There’s no set amount of time for children to play outside safely when the weather is cold. Use your best judgment. When the cold becomes unpleasant, it’s time to go inside.
If you are unsure if weather conditions are safe for outdoor play, check the Child Care Weather Watch Chart.
- Have children come indoors periodically to prevent hypothermia or frostbite. A temperature of 0 degrees Fahrenheit and a wind speed of 15 mph creates a wind chill temperature of -19 F. Under these conditions, frostbite can occur in just 30 minutes.
- Frostnip is an early warning sign of frostbite. The skin may feel numb or tingly or appear red (on lighter skin).
- To prevent frostbite, check that mittens and socks are dry and warm. Frostbite occurs mostly on fingers, toes, ears, noses, and cheeks. The affected area becomes very cold, firm, and, depending on the color of the skin, turns white, yellowish-gray, or gray.
- Even though it’s cold outside, it’s important to use sunscreen and stay hydrated. Children are more likely than adults to become dehydrated.

Staying Safe Indoors and in Vehicles

Keep anything that can burn at least three feet away from heating equipment, including furnaces, fireplaces, wood stoves, and portable space heaters.
Set up a 3-foot “kid-free zone” around open fires and space heaters.
Remember to turn portable heaters off when leaving the room.
Test smoke alarms at least once a month.
Vent all fuel-burning equipment to the outside to avoid carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning.
Install and maintain CO alarms. Keep alarms at least 15 feet away from fuel-burning appliances.
If you need to warm up your vehicle, remove it from the garage as soon as you start it to avoid the risk of CO poisoning. Don’t leave a vehicle running inside a garage.
If vehicles are parked outside, check to make sure the tailpipe is not blocked with snow, which can also cause problems with CO.

Sleeping Safely in Any Season

Keep babies’ cribs free of stuffed animals and blankets. A firm mattress covered with a tight-fitting crib sheet is all that an infant needs to sleep safely.
If you are worried about keeping babies warm, dress them in a wearable blanket, also known as a sleep sack.

Infection Control

Cold weather does not cause colds or flu. However, viruses that cause a cold and the flu are more common in the winter when children spend more time indoors.
Keeping everyone’s hands clean is one of the most important ways to avoid getting sick and spreading germs to others. Wash hands with soap and clean running water and rub them together for at least 20 seconds.
Teach children to cough or sneeze into their upper sleeve or elbow, not their hands. Adults should model this behavior.
Review program policies on handwashing; cleaning, sanitizing, and disinfecting; and excluding children and caregivers who are sick.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend that all children 6 months and older receive the seasonal flu vaccine every year. All early care and education program staff should also get vaccinated for the flu.