What to do about traveling if parents are vaccinated but kids are not has been on my mind for a while. Let me preface this article by saying that I am not a doctor, or a geneticist, or an epidemiologist. To paraphrase the old commercial, I haven’t even stayed at a Holiday Inn Express recently, though the last time I did, I thought it might be inside a Walmart.
(SEE ALSO: Spoiler alert: the Holiday Inn Express is NOT inside Walmart)
But, given the increased rollout of the COVID vaccine, my wife and I have started talking about traveling more. Given the vaccine availability as 16+, we are starting to question about how we would feel about trips if we and our older children were vaccinated but our younger kids were not.
Our Family’s Travel During COVID-19
I understand that different people have different opinions on COVID-19 itself, the pandemic and the restrictions that have been put in place over the past year or so. (Believe me, as someone who writes about travel and reads many other travel blogs, I see all sides of it. If there’s an article talking about traveling, then you get comments talking about how irresponsible it is to go anywhere, no matter what precautions you take. On the other hand, if the article talks about choosing not to travel, or taking precautions while traveling, then the comments are filled with things like “Oh you sheeple – I have been traveling nonstop since March 2020 – it’s the best ever.”)
Our family has been somewhere in the middle, with more of a conservative / stay-at-home tilt. Originally, we canceled most of our trips that had been booked in 2020. But we did end up doing a bit of traveling. Last summer, we spent a few nights as a family in an Airbnb in Michigan. Then, a few weeks ago, we did another mini road trip to an Airbnb in southern Indiana. But mostly, 2020 was a year of not traveling.
My son started a two-year church mission in Portland, Oregon, last September, so he and I flew out there, and that trip is the only time I’ve been on an airplane since March 2020.
After I dropped him off in Portland, I did a bit of roadtripping in southern Oregon and northern California by myself.
Vaccines Are Becoming More Prevalent …
So, where we sit here in April 2021, vaccines are becoming more prevalent, at least here in the United States and Ohio specifically. Ohio opened up vaccines to people 40 and above (aka me) a few weeks ago and just recently updated the guidelines to anyone 16 and over. This is basically as low as it can go right now (in my understanding) given the age restrictions on the current vaccines. I am aware of a few trials of existing and upcoming vaccines on younger children, but those are still ongoing.
In our family, I have gotten my first shot (Moderna), and we are trying to schedule my wife and two of our children. The other 3 kids that still live with us are under 16 and currently not eligible for vaccines.
… But What Happens When Parents Are Vaccinated but Kids Are Not?
So all of that brings up the question about traveling if only some of us are vaccinated. Even given the ongoing studies for vaccines in younger children, it seems unlikely that all of our immediate family will be vaccinated this year. I recently read an article interviewing CNN Medical Expert Dr. Leana Wen talking about this topic. Gary from View from the Wing has also written a few times about this topic, including recently sharing this CDC study suggesting 90% effectiveness against infection two weeks after getting the second shot.
I will say that it is a bit difficult to know exactly what is safe and unsafe to do. With so much data out there, it’s hard to know what to do. I try to look at the underlying studies rather than the media explaining it, though that can be difficult as well.
Our Family’s Current Thoughts on Travel
We have not yet fully decided what we are going to do in our family. We will continue to do smaller road trips, I think, and we are looking to hopefully travel more in the upcoming months. Studies have shown that younger children are less likely to transmit the coronavirus than adults and teenagers (even though that seems strange to me).
Where we’re at is trying to understand that EVERYTHING has risk. And so it’s a matter of trying to figure out where our comfort level is, which is something that every person and family has to decide for themselves.
One thing that my wife and I have noticed is that a lot of our reticence to travel is psychological as well as based on any medical information. Because we have spent the past year wearing masks and staying six feet away from each other, it makes it hard to stop! Although neither of us has been fully vaccinated yet, we’ve talked about still feeling nervous about being around people even when we are.
What about you? What are your family’s plans for travel in 2021 and beyond?
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
A few people in their 20’s have needed lung transplants. That really changes your life. A transplanted lung is not the same as putting on a watch or a pair of socks. Other people experience brain fog.
For the sake of the kids, I would avoid travel because of Covid-19. If the situation drags on for many years and if parents think the lack of travel is greatly affecting the kids’ development, then it can be reconsidered. But for now, kids are precious.
What does what happened to people in their 20’s have to do with kids?
While that’s true, it’s very rare in that age group. VERY. If we base all of our risk calculations on horrible things that have a 1:10,000,000 chance of happening (such as a child contracting COVID and dying), we would spend our lives hiding in a hole somewhere. And die.
The common cold has led to death. In rare cases. If you base your life on every horrific thing that could possibly happen, however rare, you’d never step foot out of your home. Ever. Stop being manipulated by the pandemic fear mongering of the media. Just wash your hands and don’t sneeze in anyone’s face and get on with living. Enough already.
In the same boat here. Had trips/flights booked for Florida several times later this year to see grandparents, but infection trends are going up right now, and if overall risk does not go to summer 2020 levels, we will likely cancel trips. It’s very strange that vaccination rate is increasing, but so is infection rate.
My wife and I are retired, 65/66, and we have travelled in the US several times this year and stayed enough to earn Globalist and used an old 7 day Marriott package. We eat outside or sometimes eat inside at 3pm, for example, to avoid the rush of people. Those have worked well. We wear our masks and wash our hands, but we both still got covid. We had one shot, then got sick. Unfortunately, I got infected when I had my car worked on at a dealership. I think whoever was in my car before me, got me sick. Otherwise we were never around anyone for a couple of weeks. We were able to get an antibody infusion and almost immediately got well. My point is that try as you might to be safe, there is a risk of catching covid. This was my 2nd time in 9 months of having covid, so I am proof that just having covid protects you long term, it does not. Once we finally get our shots again, yes we have to do it all over again, we will still wear masks when we travel. Kids are reselient, go travel.
How great the vaccines are is the underreported story of this year.
You discussed how everything has some risk – for my family (all young kids under 12), our health situation (none of the risk factors commonly associated with severe covid cases) – we were ok with a level of risk. We looked at the safety protocols/studies and decided if we followed social distancing guidelines, mask-wearing requirements, etc. we could travel safely. We’ve flown 3/4 times, gone on road trips, etc. without getting covid (not even asymptomatic – i’ve been checking for antibodies as I donate blood on a regular basis). It hasn’t been the same year of travel we expected, but we were able to spend time with extended family, visit and camp in national parks, and still make wonderful memories.
The vaccine efficacy is even more effective than the choices we were making before. Even before the 2nd Pfizer or Moderna shot, there is a high level of protection from covid. They’ve done studies now and the vaccines don’t just protect you (practically 100% effectiveness against serious illness/death), the vaccines prevent infection and transmission on a high. (Scientists always thought that…but the science behind the vaccines would suggest it…and they’ve done studies now to confirm it.)
So if I felt ok traveling if I was socially distanced as much as possible and wearing a mask while around other people…then I should feel ok with normal life as long as I’ve been vaccinated, since the vaccines are even more effective than the risks I was taking before.
So once you’re vaccinated, go life your life. We are meant to be happy, and to act and not just be acted upon. The last year was difficult but I do believe we helped save a lot of our fellow human lives through the actions we did. We live in a wonderful time with amazing scientists that were able to create a number of amazingly effective vaccines.
One more example of why everyone who can get a shot should. It helps protect those that can’t. My wife and I just got our first shot and are planning a trip without our son for memorial day. We’re hoping to bring him with in the fall when more of the population is fully vaccinated. We’ll have to see where we are then, but nothing’s 100% safe.
I am 70, my wife 71. We took a couple of short road trips within Ohio last year. Doing the recommended precautions and heavily sanitising our hotel room, we did not catch covid. This year we traveled to Florida, again by car, stopping in Pigeon Forge on the way. We were both vaccinated before we left but still practice precautions. We’ve been back home for less than 5 days at this point but feeling fine. We plan to visit some friends next month in St. Louis. I think it is a personal decision weighing the risks and your desires to travel, BUT always practice those precautions, vaccinated or not, to protect others as well as yourself. Off topic but hoping your experiences may answer a question I have, We are planning to go to Kona early next year. Wyndham has a resort their that I will be using my points to stay at. The Kona Coast Resort has two types of villas available, the villa Honu and the villa Naia. My understanding is the difference is in the age of the buildings. Now I understand that newer doesn’t necessarily mean better but can you shed some light on which of these villas are better? They are both priced the same. Thank you for any info you may give.