Frisco ISD announced via an email to parents that all students under the age of 12 will be required to start in-person education on Jan. 4th in the wake of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorizing the emergency use of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 5-11.

“Since Frisco ISD announced the online learning option for younger students at the beginning of the school year, it has been communicated that the program would no longer be offered once a COVID-19 vaccine became widely available for students between the ages of 5 and 11,” the district said in an email to parents. “With the recent approval of the COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5-11, starting January 4, 2022, all Frisco ISD students will be required to attend their designated Frisco ISD campus for on-campus instruction. “

The FDA’s approval of the vaccine for children 5-12 signifies a major development in mitigating the spread of COVID-19 and the development of new variants. 

“As a mother and a physician, I know that parents, caregivers, school staff, and children have been waiting for this authorization,” Acting FDA Commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock said in an FDA news release. “Vaccinating younger children against COVID-19 will bring us closer to returning to a sense of normalcy.”

For librarian Chelsea Hamilton, who has a daughter with severe asthma, the ability to get her kids vaccinated is welcomed after nearly two years of taking many safety steps. 

“I mean as long as they’ve done the research and testing, and they have done all of that, and it’s been proven safe, that’s the whole point of the vaccines,” Hamilton said. “I am not a scientist so I’m going to believe the scientists and their work because that is their field of expertise. I take all of  that pretty seriously because my daughter has pretty bad asthma and she’s been hospitalized a few times for her asthma so all precautions are always taken.”

With the widespread ability to get younger children vaccinated, Hamilton hopes that it will lead to a drop in COVID-19 cases among kids. 

“Hopefully kids getting the vaccine will decrease the number of little students getting sick in elementary schools,” Hamilton said. “Adults getting sick is terrible, but kids getting sick is so much worse. As a mom, when you see your kids getting sick or being in the hospital, you just feel so helpless. They’re so tiny and you can’t do anything. So just keeping them safe, that’s all we can do.”

FISD Letter to Elementary students