CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Leana Wen Admits Masking Stunted Her Toddler’s Social Development

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CNN medical analyst and former president of Planned Parenthood Dr. Leana Wen admitted Tuesday that masking her son during the COVID-19 pandemic stifled his language development and social life.

Wen wrote that she won’t be sending her kids to school in masks this fall in an op-ed for The Washington Post, despite previously being an ardent supporter of strict pandemic measures to limit the spread of COVID-19. Now, Wen said, the reality of vaccines being available to everyone and the high transmissibility of new viral variants means masking kids isn’t worth the downsides.

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“It became clear that the goal I’d hoped for — containment of covid-19 — was not reachable. This coronavirus is here to stay,” Wen wrote of the Omicron variant outbreak. “With this new, indefinite time frame, the benefit-risk calculus of mitigation measures shifted dramatically. I was willing to limit my children’s activities for a year or two but not for their entire childhood.”

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“Masking has harmed our son’s language development, and limiting both kids’ extracurriculars and social interactions would negatively affect their childhood and hinder my and my husband’s ability to work,” she wrote.

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