We recently welcomed U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra to New Haven to celebrate the National Diaper Bank Network’s ) collaboration with HHS’s We Can Do This campaign.
Diaper banks around the country will provide information about COVID-19 vaccines, which are now recommended and available for children as young as 6 months, to some of the hardest-to-reach communities in the country. Why diaper banks? Because they are present in every state, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. They serve people who historically have been deprioritized or marginalized in public health, like communities of color and low-income communities.
Diaper banking is about keeping every child clean, dry, and healthy. One in three families cannot afford an adequate supply of diapers, which puts children’s health at risk and cuts off access to child care, thus impeding early child education and also making it difficult for their parents to work. NDBN member organizations step in to begin to fill that gap.
NDBN is supporting the We Can Do This campaign because, while basic necessities are essential for children’s health, they are not the only things children need to thrive. Families also need consistent, fact-based information so that they can make the best decisions for their child’s health.
NDBN partners will let parents know that vaccines are available for anyone 6 months and up and urge adults to talk with their child’s pediatrician for reliable guidance. They will also promote vaccines.gov and vacunas.gov, websites that provide information about where to find COVID vaccines and about their safety and effectiveness.
Even in 2022, some families do not have regular access to a pediatrician, or they have trouble finding one who can explain things in their language. We Can Do This has produced materials about the vaccines in many languages, so that U.S. families who speak a language other than English are not left out.
We must do right by U.S. children and also do right by the country as a whole by limiting COVID spread at child care centers and playgrounds. Vaccines are our best bet. For most parents, a child sick with COVID would lead to missed days of work to care for them. Sadly, for some families it could mean tragedy. Nearly 500 U.S. children younger than 5 have lost their lives to COVID.
We have both spent our careers advocating for our youngest neighbors. As much as we adults fuss over babies, we routinely fail to make them a societal priority. The period when a person is most likely to be poor in the United States is during infancy. In some neighborhoods, we still have infant mortality rates that rival some of the most impoverished places on the planet. It is time to do better by our youngest children – and by those who love and care about them. We applaud HHS for choosing to partner with organizations that connect with families who are struggling to prosper in our country.
Parents with children under 5 have been eagerly anticipating a vaccine to protect the health of their children and their families. A year after the vaccines have been approved for adults, we now know that one of the most effective tools we have in the fight against COVID is safe for children, too. Parents can rest easily that their children and families are better protected from COVID’s spread, and we encourage them to put this tool to use immediately.
The United States will reach its full promise when every child has an opportunity to thrive. Getting access to factual health information into every child’s home is a vital step in this essential work. Our most vulnerable children are looking to us, and they want us to do better.
Rosa DeLauro is the U.S. representative for Connecticut’s 3rd District; Joanne Samuel Goldblum is the CEO of the National Diaper Bank Network.