Message to Peninsula Youth Theatre

By Alex Eulenberg

PYT Dad and volunteer 2007-2015

Mountain View Homeowner since 1998

sent March 26, 2023 to the PYT Board of Directors

Permission is hereby given by the author to reproduce and alter this letter in any form, without attribution.

Does PYT really hate the unvaccinated and unboosted?

Facts

Mountain View’s Peninsula Youth Theater requires all children participating in their camps and all children participating in their stage productions to be “up to date” on their COVID-19 vaccinations. The CDC defines “up to date” for ages 5 and up as having received the primary two-dose series of a COVID-19 vaccine, as well as an “updated” booster.

• https://pytnet.org/acting-classes-camps/summer-camp/ “Ages: 5-15 … PYT campers must be up-to-date on their COVID vaccinations while at camp.”
• https://pytnet.org/auditions/ “For actors ages 8 – 18 … All participants will be required to remain up-to-date on COVID-19 vaccinations.”
• https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/stay-up-to-date.html: "You are up to date with your COVID-19 vaccines when you have completed a COVID-19 vaccine primary series and got the most recent booster dose recommended for you by CDC."

• Not a single COVID-19 vaccine has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for ages under 12.
• Not a single COVID-19 booster dose (neither the original formula booster, nor the currently available updated “bivalent” booster) has been approved by the FDA for anyone of any age.
• All COVID-19 vaccine doses available in the U.S. for children under 12 and all booster doses for anyone of any age are only “Emergency Use Authorized.” https://www.fda.gov/emergency-preparedness-and-response/coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19/pfizer-biontech-covid-19-vaccines
• This means the FDA has not determined that the benefits outweigh the risks for children 12 and up staying up to date with COVID-19 boosters, or for children under 12 receiving any COVID-19 vaccinations at all. Only for the vaccine doses that they have approved has the FDA determined that the benefits outweigh the risks. https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/coronavirus/full-fda-approval-of-a-covid-19-vaccine-what-you-should-know
• The California Department of Public Health had a plan to require COVID-19 vaccination for school children K-12 but only if the vaccines were FDA approved. Since vaccines were not FDA approved for children under the age of 12 the State of California did not go through with the plan. https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/OPA/Pages/NR22-073.aspx
• For Pfizer’s “Comirnaty” the one vaccine that the FDA has been approved for children 12 and over, the FDA says that it has not been shown to prevent transmission of or infection with the virus that causes with COVID-19; it only is approved to prevent symptoms. https://www.fda.gov/vaccines-blood-biologics/comirnaty
• Nowhere does the CDC recommend excluding people from community activities based on COVID-19 vaccination status. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/communication/guidance.html
• Nor does the CDC list avoiding unvaccinated people as a way to protect oneself from COVID-19, for anyone. Even the immunocompromised or others at high risk for getting very sick from COVID-19 are not advised to avoid unvaccinated people. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/prevention.html

There is no reason to exclude unvaccinated children from Peninsula Youth Theatre programs.

Such a policy is not recommended by the FDA or the CDC, or California Department of Public Health.

Why you doing it? Whose advice are you following?

If you do not have a good answer, stop this hateful policy now. Allow all children to participate in all of your programs and productions regardless of COVID-19 vaccination status.