The Science Museum of Virginia has always encouraged Virginians to question their world. With emergency use authorization for the COVID-19 vaccine for children just around the corner, the Science Museum recognizes that parents, caregivers and guardians have lots of questions about the effectiveness and safety of the vaccine for their loved ones. To help provide science-based answers, the Science Museum teamed up with board-certified physician Dr. Danny Avula, Director of the Richmond City and Henrico County Health Departments, for a question-and-answer session about kids and the COVID-19 vaccine.

During this virtual event, Science Museum neuroscientist Dr. Catherine Franssen joined Dr. Avula to address questions submitted by community members related to the science behind vaccine development, the way it works in the body, the impacts it will have on children in the future.

The event is part of the Communities for Immunity initiative. Communities for Immunity is made possible with funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Institute of Museum and Library Services. For more information, visit www.communitiesforimmunity.org. It was presented in English and Spanish, and included ASL interpretation. A full transcript of this event is available at https://smv.org/documents/226/KidsCOVIDevent_FullTranscript.pdf.

Be sure to also check out our blog for even more vaccine science at https://smv.org/vaccines.

For more information on COVID-19 vaccines in Virginia, visit the Virginia Department of Health at https://www.vdh.virginia.gov/covid-19-vaccine/.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has an easy-to-follow FAQ on vaccines and the COVID-19 vaccine in particular at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/faq.html.

The Smithsonian Institution has compiled an excellent resource page for all questions about COVID-19 at https://www.si.edu/vaccinesandus.

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