“Perhaps it’s the cell phones?” we wonder. “And the TikTok?” 

Sure, screens — and how kids engage with them — are part of this story. And yet, and especially, America tolerates levels of child poverty compared to peer nations. because of their families’ low incomes. And yet, as has become custom, Congress recently missed a bipartisan opportunity to do something about this shameful, persistent American problem. 

To explain this latest congressional stumble, we need some history. In 2021, the Biden administration’s American Rescue Plan cut U.S. child poverty rates by significantly expanding the . Critically, the expanded credit was administered in , giving families a steady stream of new resources instead of a once-annually infusion at tax time. As Dr. Shantel Meek and I put it in , “[M]easured against its goal, the expansion of the child tax credit is one of the great policy successes in recent memory. Few other big federal ideas have so suddenly achieved precisely what they intended.” 

But the measure expired after one year, and to reinstate it have floundered in Congress. 

Then, this year, a bipartisan group of House representatives drafted a giving progressives a partial reinstatement of the expanded credit in return for a handful of corporate tax breaks prized by conservatives. The bill passed with in the House, but — at least partly because of conservative concerns that it might help President Biden in an election year. “I think passing a tax bill that makes the president look good — may allow checks before the election — means that he can be reelected and then we won’t extend the 2017 tax cuts,” . 

Whatever else you think is causing young Americans’ pessimism these days, it pales in comparison with the impact of this sort of cynicism. Put aside the hand wringing about culture wars and polarization and “woke” indoctrination embedded into K–12 history curricula. U.S. kids don’t distrust Congress because their schools tell them an honest account of America’s complicated past. They Congress because, when confronted with a tested policy solution to that affects their lives, elected representatives dither and find politically expedient excuses. 

Make no mistake: the case for providing cash support for families with young children is empirically airtight. Researchers have known since at least that families’ socioeconomic resources significantly shape children’s educational performance and outcomes. that increases in family income produce better developmental, academic and life outcomes for children. As a policy matter, regular cash transfers to families like the Biden Administration’s expanded child tax credit —known as “child allowances” — a to . 

At this point in the waves of evidence, conservatives sometimes argue that, sure, perhaps there’s a case for investing more funding in low-income families, but only if we apply conditions and require that it be spent on particular things. Won’t families “waste” new resources unproductively? But this, too, is cynical and baseless political posturing: analysis showed that families .

And yet, here we are, stuck. Legislative failures like these are the operational definition of a failing democracy. When democracies struggle to do simple things that we know would improve citizens’ — especially children’s — lives, they’re undermining their main institutional selling point. If representative government cannot accurately represent the public’s interest by identifying and addressing its problems, why bother with the messiness of organizing our political lives this way?
U.S. kids are not alright. But it’s not just because they’re living in an information sphere increasingly shaped by technology. Without a shift to a more pragmatic approach to these problems, that trust will only continue dropping — however well legislative sclerosis serves conservatives’ short-term political needs.

Media influences and conventional beauty standards have long plagued society.

This issue took on new urgency in May 2023 when the over the .

Research shows that images of beauty as depicted in movies, television and magazines , issues with disordered eating and .

Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter

These trends have been documented , in the and in and ethnic backgrounds.

Experts have long suspected that social media may be playing a role in the growing . However, the surgeon general’s warning is one of the first .

Social media can be toxic

Body dissatisfaction among children and adolescents is commonplace and decreased quality of life, worsened mood and unhealthy eating habits.

As an , I regularly work with clients who experience eating disorder symptoms, self-esteem issues and anxiety .

I also : I am 15 years post-recovery from an eating disorder, and I grew up when people were beginning to widely use social media. In my view, the impact of social media on diet and exercise patterns needs to be further researched to inform future policy directions, school programming and therapeutic treatment.

The mental health of adolescents and teens has been , and the and brought it into the spotlight. As the mental health crisis surges, researchers have been taking a in these increasing mental health concerns.

The pros and cons of social media

About 95% of children and adolescents in the U.S. between the ages of 10 and 17 are .

Research has shown that for finding . However, studies have also shown that the use of social media contributes to social comparisons, unrealistic expectations and .

In addition, those who have tend to spend more time on social media. People in that category are more likely to and . Women and are more likely to feel worse about their bodies and themselves after they spend time on social media.

A breeding ground for eating disorders

A recent review found that, as with mass media, the use of social media is a risk factor for , body image dissatisfaction and disordered eating. In this review, social media use was shown to contribute to negative self-esteem, social comparisons, decreased emotional regulation and idealized self-presentation that negatively influenced body image.

Another study, called the , published in April 2023, found that 9 in 10 children and adolescents ages 10 to 17 are exposed to toxic beauty content on social media and 1 in 2 say that this has an impact on their mental health.

Eating disorders are that develop because of biological, social and psychological factors. Eating disorder hospitalizations and the need for treatment have dramatically .

include isolation, food scarcity, boredom and related to weight gain, such as the “.” That was a reference to the weight gain some people were experiencing at the beginning of the pandemic, similar to the “freshman 15” belief that one will gain 15 pounds in the first year of college. Many teens whose routines were disrupted by the pandemic turned to eating disorder behaviors for or were influenced by family members who held unhealthy beliefs around food and exercise.

Researchers have also found that increased time at home during the pandemic and therefore more exposure to toxic body image and dieting social media content.

While social media alone will not cause eating disorders, , which are amplified by social media, can contribute to the development of eating disorders.

‘Thinspo’ and ‘fitspo’

Toxic beauty standards online include the normalization of cosmetic and surgical procedures and pro-eating-disorder content, which promotes and romanticizes eating disorders. For instance, social media sites have promoted trends such as “thinspo,” which is focused on the thin ideal, and “fitspo,” which perpetuates the belief of there being a perfect body that can be achieved with dieting, supplements and excessive exercise.

Research has shown that ” or dieting through pseudoscientific claims can lead to obsessive behavior around dietary patterns. These unfounded “wellness” posts , chronic stress, body dissatisfaction and higher likelihood of .

Some social media posts feature , which directly or indirectly encourages disordered eating. Other posts promote deliberate manipulation of one’s body, using harmful quotes such as “nothing tastes as good as thin feels.” These posts provide a false sense of connection, allowing users to bond over a shared goal of losing weight, altering one’s appearance and continuing patterns of disordered eating.

While young people toxic beauty advice’s effects on their self-esteem, they may still continue to engage with this content. This is in part because friends, influencers and to follow certain accounts.

How policy changes could help

are proposing different .

Policy recommendations include increased transparency from social media companies, creation of higher standards of and that would discourage companies and marketers from using altered photos.

Phone-free zones

Small steps at home to cut down on social media consumption can also make a difference. Parents and caregivers can for the family. Examples of this include putting phones away while the family watches a movie together or during mealtimes.

Adults can also help by modeling healthy social media behaviors and encouraging children and adolescents to focus .

Mindful social media consumption is another helpful approach. This requires recognizing what one is feeling during social media scrolling. If spending time on social media makes you feel worse about yourself or seems to be causing mood changes in your child, it may be time to change how you or your child interact with social media.

This article is republished from under a Creative Commons license. Read the .

Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock was re-elected to the U.S. Senate with 51% of the Georgia vote, besting his GOP challenger Herschel Walker. Warnock became the state’s first Black U.S. Senator after winning a special election in 2020, and now becomes Georgia’s first Black U.S. Senator elected to a full six-year term. Skye Oduaran covered the race and published a Dec. 7 with Scholastic Kids Press.

Skye Oduaran was reading a Scholastic Magazine in fifth grade when she noticed a section inviting youth to apply for positions as kid reporters with the magazine. It intrigued her, so she sent in an application.

Fast forward six months and the Atlanta 12-year-old now has zig-zagged across her state, scoring interviews with a sitting and a , among others, as a reporter for . She met former President Barack Obama on the campaign trail and is now angling for an interview. In November, she reported from the White House — the first time a youth with press credentials had ever done so, Secret Service members told her.

Many of the budding journalist’s stories focus on education, schools and other youth-centered topics.

“I like to write articles to bring awareness to issues that impact kids,” said Oduaran, who attends Kennedy Road Middle School.

It doesn’t hurt that Oduaran lives in Georgia, a state that has been at the white hot center of American politics for the past several years and will now host a runoff Tuesday in the U.S. Senate race. In-person early voting has been exceptionally strong in the contest between Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker, with voters already casting their ballot. Oduaran has been out speaking to many of them. State law in Georgia requires winning candidates to surpass 50% of the vote, but on Nov. 8, neither Warnock nor Walker hit that threshold.

While Republicans in January will take control of the U.S. House of Representatives, Democrats maintained control of the Senate. A Warnock win would give the party additional breathing room in that chamber, breaking a 50-50 split that afforded West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin extensive nay-saying power over the last two years.

Knowing the 12-year-old reporter would be busy on voting day, The 74 caught up with Oduaran a few days prior. Her mom, Erica Oduaran, sat next to the young journalist as we spoke over Zoom about the inspiration behind her work, her advice to the national press corps and her plans to return to the White House someday — only not as a reporter.

This conversation has been edited lightly for clarity and length.

The 74: You have been all over the state reporting. How has that been?

Skye Oduaran: It’s been very exciting. I’ve met a lot of candidates who are running for different positions. It’s been very fun. I’ve learned a lot about how politics works in the state and how candidates become elected to their positions.

When you think about these last weeks and months, what are some of the moments that stand out most?

Well, I met [former President] Barack Obama at a campaign rally in College Park, Georgia. I enjoyed that. And I’m thinking about reaching out to his campaign to see if I can get an interview with him. 

I’ve also met Stacey Abrams on the campaign trail when she was campaigning to become governor. And I had an opportunity to exchange a question with Brian Kemp at his Kemp for Farmers campaign rally. 

Also, Sen. Raphael Warnock, I had an interview with him. And I asked him about what he plans to do with education in the state of Georgia and how that can help other states.

There aren’t many 11-year-olds who can say that. 

I just turned 12. 

Happy birthday. When was your birthday?

Nov. 9.

The day after Election Day. Happy belated. Well, there aren’t many 12-year-olds who have done all those things. When you’re in those interviews, what’s going through your head? How do you come up with your questions?

How I come up with questions is I think about how these candidates can impact education and things that impact kids around the state and in the country. And once I know how it can impact kids, I come up with questions that suit that perspective.

You have a unique perspective as someone who’s still in K-12 education. How does that inform your reporting?

I would say, for instance, last week on Monday, I went to the White House to report on the . According to the Secret Service, that was the first time that they had a kid with press credentials coming to report an event. Apparently, before that, they only had adults.

First of all, congratulations on that. But second, how is your coverage different because you’re a young person?

It is different because it’s writing from a perspective that impacts kids. Scholastic Kids Press is where you report by kids, for kids. And when a kid writes, they are addressing what a lot of other kids think of because they are in the same age group and they have the same perspective.

I like to write articles to bring awareness to issues that impact kids so that they can change what is going on.

Now we’re just a few days away from the runoff. Based on the conversations you’ve had in the election cycle, what’s on the minds of Georgia voters right now?

I’d say a lot of Georgia voters that I talked to, they talk about how the election is very close, for the reason of the polls being very close. 

A lot of voters told me that instead of voting for the party line, they want to choose who they think is best for the state. So not choosing based on party, but they are looking at the candidates and what they stand for.

Fast forward to Tuesday, what’s your plan for coverage on voting day?

My plan is to go to different polling stations and ask voters questions. For instance, I’m going to be asking them … [if they] voted with the party line or across party lines. And asking them why did they feel the election was important, and why they decided to vote. 

Today, I’m going to go to a campaign rally with Barack Obama again. I intend to meet him and ask him for an interview later. So I’m going to use information from that to also put it into my article. 

My article is going to include what voters say at the polling stations, the Obama event, the trial when Sen. Raphael Warnock sued the state of Georgia [over ] and also early voting on Saturday, [Nov.] 26.

How does your reporting work dovetail with school attendance? Do you get excused absences or are you doing all this outside school time?

My reporting works very well with school. My skills from reporting improve my academic performance and my learning in school — particularly in areas such as social studies, [English language arts] and math — help my understanding of numbers, politics, economics and how to best communicate these to others. 

I conduct my reporting before and after school, as well as on weekends. There was only one occasion where I had to use an excused absence to conduct my reporting. My mother picked me up early so that I could cover a campaign event with Gov. Brian Kemp in Moultrie, Georgia that required several hours of driving to get there. On the same day, I also covered the campaign event of Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams in Jonesboro, Georgia. These were the only events that necessitated an excused absence from school. 

For the runoff election on Tuesday, I will be in school. In Georgia, schools are open on election days. I intend to go to the polls before school on Tuesday to interview voters and then return to the polls to continue reporting after school finishes.

To rewind a little bit on your own story, how did you initially get interested in journalism?

I’ve always enjoyed writing. And one day in fifth grade, I was reading a Scholastic Magazine to complete an assignment and I saw that there was a section that said that they were looking for kids to apply to become Scholastic reporters. The articles inside of the newspaper were all written by kids who were my age. 

I said that next year, I should try to apply for the position to report on events because I wanted to bring awareness to issues that I believe are important.

That was about six months ago.

And now, boom, you’re reporting on the runoff, talking to senators all that. How does that feel?

It feels amazing. And it’s also fun.

You’ve not wasted any time.

Erica Oduaran, Skye’s mother, chiming in: She got the position at the end of September. So essentially, the beginning of October is when she started being a kid reporter.

Skye, you really hit the ground running. It sounds like a key goal for you is interviewing former President Barack Obama. Obviously an interview with a former president is phenomenal as a journalist. But what made you set your sights on that particular goal?

Well, I have decided that I would like to interview Barack Obama someday. This is because he is doing a lot of good things for our country and I would like to bring awareness to that. I also want to interview Michelle Obama, because I see that she is also doing a lot of things to help kids and families around the country. 

Who in the world is your biggest role model?

Michelle Obama, because she encouraged kids staying fit and active. And she and her husband, they started the program (the White House education agenda that directed federal money toward more rigorous standards and testing, accountability and turning around low-performing schools) as well as a lot of other things that helped to improve education in our country.

Are there any teachers you’ve had who stand out to you for making a big impact on your path?

My parents. My mother and my father, they homeschooled my brother and my sister and me [through third grade].

They taught me everything. Mommy has a Ph.D. She is amazing at math and science and she makes it very interesting. My father also has a Ph.D and he is amazing at social studies, history and reading. And he also loves to teach them in amazing ways. So that’s why they’re my favorite teachers.

They cover all the subjects between them. 

Yes. 

You’ve covered a lot of education issues. I read your piece on the . What drew you to those topics?

Well, at school, a lot of kids talk about how they see education as a very top priority. I’ve interviewed a lot of kids, too, and they say that education is most important to them. 

So I decided that if I started writing about it, I can make education [politics] more accessible to them. A lot of the candidates want to make sure education’s more accessible for kids around the country, too, and so I decided to write about it.

What do you think adult journalists could better understand about how to cover youth issues?

I would say, for instance, I went to the White House last week on Monday. And a lot of the reporters were really only focused on getting the top story. There was a lot of pushing and shoving to get to the front where they could see the event, some even got on ladders, so that blocked the view of other reporters. 

So is maybe what you’re saying they could be a little nicer?

Yes.

Do you have any advice for other young folks who might be looking to get into journalism, but not know how?

I would say that they should be curious. They should observe the world around them. And they should have fun. And they should find issues that they think are important to them and see how they can use it to impact kids their age.

How is the kind of learning you do when you’re out in the field covering, for example, a campaign rally different from the kind of learning you do in the classroom?

I’ve learned that when you interview someone, you need to look them straight in the eyes. You must ask them the question very directly. You get straight down to the point of the question and you must enunciate it. I’ve also learned a lot about how journalism works and how you write your articles so that they attract the audience of who you are trying to get the attention of.

Taking those things in mind, what do you think should be different about the current education system?

I would suggest that there are teachers who are certified to teach their certain subjects, so students are engaged and are understanding the subject.

And also teachers could maybe do an activity with students to get students engaged and make sure that not only do they understand it, but they’re having fun with it. 

For you, what’s next?

I’ve started my own school newspaper [the Kennedy Road Cougar Column] and I’d like to extend that to other schools in my school system. I also intend to stay in Scholastic until I’m 14 because you can stay in Scholastic until you are 14. I’ve heard of another reporting company for teenagers, so when I turn 15, I would like to do it. And on top of that, I would also like to start my own newspaper for Georgia.

I also intend to, after I graduate from high school, go to college. And I will go to law school afterwards and I will become a lawyer. And I will become a judge because you have to become a lawyer before becoming a judge. And then I’m going to run for president of the United States in 2048.

Wow, awesome.

Yes. I’ve also started my campaign right now where I printed stickers that say for people to vote for me in 2048. My mother’s going to go get them right now so I can show them to you.

Long game for 2048. You’re getting an early start.

Twenty-six years. It’s really not that long.

It’s a major boost in efficacy compared to data from Moderna, which announced in March that its two-dose regimen is 51% protective in toddlers 6 months to 2 years old and 37% protective in youngsters 3 to 6 years old.��

Researchers believe both vaccines offer a strong defense against severe illness and hospitalization in the age group.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday its vaccine advisory committee will meet June 15 to review Moderna’s and Pfizer-BioNTech’s emergency use authorization requests for kids ages 6 months to 5 years old and 6 months to 4 years old, respectively. Pfizer and BioNTech have not yet submitted an EUA request, but plan to do so by the end of the week, BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin said in a .

The agency’s advisory committee will make a recommendation on whether to approve the shots at the end of the meeting, which the FDA typically follows. Many experts hope the agency will greenlight shots soon after the mid-June meeting.

“I have some optimism that this will go well at [the] FDA advisory meeting and we might begin immunizing under 5 beginning next month,” Peter Hotez, co-director of Texas Children’s Hospital’s Center for Vaccine Development, wrote on .

Children under 5 years old remain the last Americans without access to COVID vaccines, and parents are eager to protect their children, especially as cases once again rise, said Atlanta-based pediatrician Jennifer Shu.��

On Monday, as the Pfizer news was announced, multiple parents of young children asked whether they could get their kids on a waiting list for the forthcoming vaccines.

“I assure them that we will make availability for everyone who wants [the shots],” said Shu, explaining that her practice has received ample pediatric vaccine supply every time they have placed an order. “I don’t think that access is going to be an issue.”

The news from Pfizer and BioNTech comes on the heels of a months-long saga that has repeatedly raised the hopes of parents anxious to vaccinate their toddlers against COVID only to later send them crashing down. In late February, Pfizer-BioNTech first submitted a request asking the FDA to grant emergency authorization for a two-dose regimen of their vaccine for children 6 months to 4 years old, only to then withdraw the application just five days later.��

Then in April, when Moderna was on the verge of submitting its EUA application for the age group, that the FDA might postpone the review process until Pfizer’s shots were also ready, a reveal that angered many parents and spurred a congressional letter asking the agency to explain the reported delay. The announcement of the June 15 committee meeting appears to confirm those speculations of a simultaneous review.

The trial results released Monday clarified what experts have hinted at since February — that Pfizer’s two-dose regimen never offered the full intended protectiveness for young children.

“It was always a three-dose vaccine,” said Hotez.

The news comes as reported U.S. coronavirus cases are up 53% since two weeks ago and youth infections are also rising, though less steeply. With the increased prevalence of at-home testing, those numbers may fail to capture the full scope of new case totals, said Shu.

During the winter’s massive Omicron surge, children under 5 were hospitalized with the virus at five times the rate they were during the Delta surge, a from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently found. And in February, the agency’s data revealed that kids under 18 had been infected by the virus.

Still, repeat infections remain a threat, and can happen of each other. Children who have not yet been vaccinated are more likely to get sick and, in turn, more likely to experience severe outcomes than immunized peers, said Shu.

“The kids who are ending up in the hospital are more likely not to be vaccinated,” she told The 74.

Just 28% of children 5 to 11 years old and 58% of youth 12 to 17 years old have received two vaccine doses, rates that have remained nearly stagnant for months.

Aside from recommending that kids roll up their sleeves as soon as they’re eligible, the pediatrician believes schools should consider reinstating universal face-covering rules while infections multiply. While a few schools and districts have made that jump, the vast majority continue to keep masks optional, though some have upped their language recommending masks.��

Shu, however, knows of some children who have chosen to mask up at school as they’ve watched their peers get sick. It’s prom and graduation season, the pediatrician noted, and young people don’t want to miss out.

“If you miss some of these things, you can’t make them up,” said Shu.

When he fell ill from the coronavirus in April 2020 and went to the hospital during New York City’s deadly first wave, the young girl, then just 7, turned to her mother.

“He’ll be OK, right?” she asked.��

Her mother, Melissa Keaton, days later had to tell her daughter that their beloved “Papa,” who was 61, wasn’t coming back to the Flatbush apartment he had shared with them and where he helped care for his granddaughter.

“My father was in the hospital,” Keaton told The 74. “We never heard from him. We were never able to see him or speak to him. Once he passed, [Melanie] didn’t get to see that visual, final goodbye.”

The young Brooklynite is one of more than who are believed to have lost parents or caregivers to COVID during the pandemic — roughly 1 in every 450 young people in the U.S. under age 18.

The count updates the already-staggering October estimate that had lost caregiving adults to the virus, and is four times more than a springtime tally that found nearly had experienced such loss. In a Dec. 9 titled “Hidden Pain,” researchers from the and published the new total, which they derived through combining coronavirus death numbers with household-level data from the 2019 American Community Survey.��

The death toll further underscores the daunting task facing schools as they seek to help students recover not just academically, but also emotionally, from a pandemic that has already stretched 22 months and claimed more than 800,000 American lives. It’s an issue of such elevated concern that Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, on Dec. 7, used a rare public address to warn Americans of the pandemic’s . An accompanying calls out the particular difficulties experienced by young people who have lost parents or caregivers to the virus.

“As the nation looks to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, there is an urgent need to address the crisis of children left behind,” said COVID Collaborative CEO John Bridgeland in a addressing his organization’s co-published research.

Bereaved children have higher rates of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder than those who have not lost parents, according to that followed grieving children for multiple years. They are more than twice as likely to show impairments in functioning at school and at home, even seven years later, meaning these children need both immediate and long-term counseling and support to deal with such a traumatic loss.

“For these children, their whole sky has fallen, and supporting them through this trauma must be a top priority.”

The sky had indeed fallen for the Keaton family.��

After having suffered a single seizure three years prior, Melissa Keaton said she developed full-blown epilepsy after losing her father, experiencing multiple uncontrolled fits. Melanie witnessed her mother in spasms on the floor on at least one occasion.

The elementary schooler’s virtual classroom was unequipped to help the young child process her multiple traumas, her mother said, and the school mental health services did not reach out to the family. Meanwhile, COVID-related lessons — for example, on the vaccine — triggered painful pandemic memories for Melanie, making online class occasionally upsetting, with her school missing signs she was struggling emotionally.��

Of all children who have lost caregivers to the virus since COVID-19 struck, a disproportionate share are Black. Those losses among African-American youth like Melanie have come at more than twice the rate of white young people, according to data in the new report. Indigenous, Hispanic and Asian youth have also suffered outsized losses, the numbers show.

“The children most likely to lose a caregiver to COVID-19 are also most likely to have faced previous adversities,” said Dan Treglia, co-author of the report and associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania. That ups the stakes, he added, on providing support to help those young people heal.

Also particularly vulnerable are the 70 percent of all COVID-bereaved children who are 13 years old or younger. More than 13,000 children of all ages lost their only in-home caregiver.

Despite dire need, however, professional help often remains inaccessible. In Melanie’s case, Melissa Keaton said she turned over every possible stone seeking mental health support for her daughter, but was unable to secure counseling. Well before the pandemic drove greater demand, reported offering mental health services to students and 52 percent said that inadequate funding was “a major limitation” in their ability to provide those services, according to 2017-18 data from the National Center for Education Statistics.

“Trying to find a therapist or someone for her to talk to, it was impossible,” she explained. “Calling, you know, office after office and everyone is at capacity, there’s nothing available.”

The COVID Collaborative and Social Policy Analytics report recommends that policymakers devote resources to grief camps, group counseling and therapy to support children like Melanie as they move forward and recover. They recommend the creation of a bereavement fund for affected families, similar to that which was created for relatives of Sept. 11 victims. Schools, the researchers say, can play a critical role in ramping up mental health services and mentoring for students.

The American Rescue Plan, which will send a total of $122 billion to U.S. schools, includes funding that some campuses are using to responding to students’ mental health needs, especially when it comes to pandemic-related traumas. So far, of school systems have invested some of their relief money in social-emotional learning materials, according to a Dec. 13 tabulation from the data service Burbio, which has tracked how districts are using the influx of federal dollars.

But with or without support, the Keaton family will continue to feel a gaping hole in their household. The holidays, Melissa Keaton said, are especially hard. They always used to spend Thanksgiving watching football with her father. His Dec. 23 birthday was a regular part of their Christmas routine.

“We have these people who have lost family members, and they’re kind of forgotten, the unknowns. We don’t talk about it because everyone wants to get past it and get back to normal,” she said.��

“But for people who have lost someone, certain things will just never be normal.”

The news comes as the number of average daily COVID cases in the U.S. has in the past two weeks, and as fears for spread of the Omicron variant have motivated a to a level not seen since late May.��

“With both the Delta and Omicron variants continuing to spread, vaccination remains the best protection against COVID-19,” said Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock in a .

The Omicron strain, listed as a “variant of concern” by the World Health Organization in late November, currently makes up a miniscule fraction of U.S. infections, but features a combination of mutations that worries scientists. It is known to have infected more than , the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told the Associated Press Wednesday.

The first look at how vaccines hold up against the Omicron variant bodes well for the efficacy of Pfizer-BioNTech’s booster doses, experts say.��

Lab data published Tuesday analyzing how effectively blood from vaccinated South Africans neutralized the new strain found that the virus did evade the immune defenses more craftily than previous versions of COVID. However, blood from individuals who had a previous infection and then received two vaccine doses did a good job staving off Omicron. It’s the best proxy so far for the immunity of those who have received three doses, scientists say, because South Africa has not yet authorized booster shots.

“​�ċThis study gives me great hope that our boosters will help protect against Omicron,” Katelyn Jetelina, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of Texas School of Public Health, wote in a explaining the new lab results.

In authorizing third doses for 16- and 17-year olds, the FDA expanded its already existing emergency use authorization for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines to include older teens. Before shots can be officially administered to the newly eligible group, they need to receive the green light from the CDC, an authorization that is expected to come swiftly. The federal agency cleared boosters for all adults 18 and older in early November.

“Since we first authorized the vaccine, new evidence indicates that vaccine effectiveness against COVID-19 is waning after the second dose of the vaccine for all adults and for those in the 16- and 17-year-old age group,” said Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. “A single booster dose of the vaccine for those vaccinated at least six months prior will help provide continued protection against COVID-19 in this and older age groups.” 

Meanwhile, as many Americans are still wrapping their minds around first, second and third doses, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said late Wednesday that the Omicron variant could mean will be necessary in under 12 months.

New Mexico appears to be the first state to require that certain workers receive booster shots, including a vaccinate-or-test rule for K-12 staff. So far, about 9 percent of school employees statewide have submitted documentation of having received a third dose.

Ensuring that staff and eligible students up their immunity as Omicron threats loom may be of particular importance given that temporary school closures have continued through the fall. Roughly 10 percent of the nation’s schools have experienced a disruption this school year alone. Some closures have been due to outbreaks, but others have been caused by teacher burnout and staffing shortages.

As of Dec. 1, some 4.3 million children ages 5 to 11, representing 15 percent of the age group, had received a vaccine dose. The same was true for ages 12 to 17, and over half had completed the full two-dose series, according to data published by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Across all ages, more than people in the U.S are now fully vaccinated, about 60 percent of the population.

When teens and adolescents first became eligible for COVID-19 vaccinations in mid-May, demand for shots was like a spigot turned on full blast.

Now, the once-steady stream has slowed to a feeble drip.

Last week, only 315,000 youth rolled up their sleeves for immunizations, down from a peak of 1.6 million in late May, according to an .

“[T]he rate of youth vaccinations has slowed in recent weeks,” Jennifer Shu, a pediatrician and spokesperson for the AAP, wrote in a message to The 74. That trend poses a grave risk, she says.

“​�ċVaccinating teens and adolescents is their best protection against severe COVID illness. Also, having higher vaccination rates overall can reduce the potential of variants — which may be more contagious — to develop and spread in schools and communities.”

As of July 14, some 6.8 million Americans under the age of 18 were fully vaccinated, representing 38 percent of 16- to 17-year-olds and 25 percent of 12- to 15-year-olds. Another 2 million teens and adolescents had received a single dose.

The slowdown in youth immunization tracks with what Nicolette Carrion, who worked in May and June as a youth vaccine ambassador in her hometown of Nassau County, New York, has heard in conversations with peers about the shot.

When youth first became eligible for vaccinations, many were eager to get immunized so that they could enjoy events like prom, graduation and summer hangouts with friends, she said. But now the social pressure has eased off.

“At this point, everyone (who’s) vaccinated, they’ve been done with it, and they don’t want to talk about vaccines anymore. And everyone unvaccinated probably wants to avoid that conversation,” Carrion, a rising sophomore at Georgetown University, told The 74.

Low youth vaccination rates spurred the AAP on Monday to recommend universal masking for students and staff as classrooms reopen this fall.

“There isn’t a uniform way to determine who and how many individuals within a school are vaccinated … and therefore [it’s] difficult to enforce masking simply for unvaccinated people,” explained Shu. “So universal masking is the best way to be consistent in protecting everyone.”

That stance clashes with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which holds that mask-wearing in school is only recommended for individuals who have not received COVID-19 immunizations. The AAP’s recommendation contributes to , according to recent reports.

Nationwide, eight states bar school districts from requiring face coverings in the classroom, while nine states mandate that all schools enforce universal masking, according to Burbio’s . Most other states leave the decision up to individual school systems.

Those policies come as experts struggle to understand what exactly is the risk to unvaccinated kids of the new, more contagious Delta variant that has quickly spread across the country.

Last school year, a collection of 130 studies found that schools were not the locus of community spread, and could safely reopen as long as safety measures like ventilation, masking and distancing were in place and infection rates in the surrounding area were not raging.

But in June, experts told The 74 that this summer and fall may mark the “most dangerous” time in the pandemic for unvaccinated individuals and young people due to spread of the Delta variant. In the United Kingdom, a new study found that youth were behind the country’s most recent surge, testing positive for the virus at a rate .

Those warning signs should spur officials to revisit school safety policies, says Shu.

“This pandemic is a moving target and we are constantly adapting and adjusting guidelines including those on masking,” she said. “States that currently ban mask mandates could adapt given new information and recommendations.”

But while the most recent COVID mutation is undeniably more infectious than previous strains, it is . It spreads rapidly, but there is not evidence that the health outcomes for infected individuals are worse than those who got sick from other versions of the virus — meaning kids’ chance of hospitalization and death remains low.

Earlier this month, FDA officials said that authorization of COVID vaccines for children under 12 is .

In the meantime, vaccine requirements at as many as could help encourage older teens to receive their shots. On Monday, a to Indiana University’s mandate that students must be immunized before returning to campus.

For younger teens and adolescents, the trick may be to rethink the incentives for vaccination, suggests Carrion. Offering video games as a prize, or tapping influencers to speak up about vaccination could help, she says. Bringing pop star Olivia Rodrigo to the White House last week to she thinks was a good start.

“That age group is very impressionable,” said Carrion. “It all matters.”

​�ċ