Stories from the Stoop: Mike Molina

Governor Hogan wants public schools to move into hybrid instruction by next month, bringing more students and staff back to classrooms.

The Healing Youth Alliance is an ambitious project that trains Baltimore City teens about mental wellness and how to talk to professionals about what it’s like to be in young people’s shoes. The ultimate goal is a better path to healing for them, and their peers. Founder and director Professor Kyla Liggett-Creel and faculty member Nia Jones, from the Black Mental Health Alliance, explain how it works. Then Taylor Clinton, a teen ambassador in the program, describes why African American youth--in particular--need a program like this, and why it’s important.

More doses of vaccines are coming to Maryland--but only for adults. No Covid vaccine yet exists for anyone younger than 16.  University of Maryland pediatrics professor Dr. James Campbell, an expert on infectious diseases and testing vaccines, predicts there could be a vaccine for younger teens later this spring and for grade-school-age kids in the summer. Meanwhile, he urges adults to get a Covid vaccine, and:  “Get your children vaccinated with all the routine vaccinations now, before everything opens back up.” And Annapolis pediatricians Katherine Edwards and Jim Rice say primary-care doctors can help the vaccine rollout now. Rice: “Given that vaccination is such a core part of our function -- we do it and we do it well -- we’re watching this and we’re saying, how can we help?”

Links: Warp Speed for Covid-19: Why are Children Stuck in Neutral?, Pediatricians and Primary Care Practices are a Ready-Made Vaccination Reource