Are you vaccinating your young child against covid ?

No not planning on having mine vaccinated. I’d like to wait until there are a few long term studies on the vaccine, and covid doesn’t seem a big risk for them so I don’t think it’s worth it. The travel thing is annoying though as I would like to take them abroad at some point. But no rush on that, we’ve holidayed in the UK for the last few years and it’s been fine.

No, because I don't see the benefit for that age group. We are both triple jabbed, but the risk/benefit profile is different for our age group. Also, the vaccine is known to lose effectiveness quite quickly. We are going into summer and numbers are dropping. It seems the most pointless time for them to have it.

No because I don’t see any benefit from it. I didn’t think about the travel insurance to be honest. One of mine couldn’t get it anyway at the mo as she had covid for the 2nd time back in March.

I am vaccinated and the DC have flu jabs but I probably won't have them vaccinated against Covid. They have had it recently (DC1 for the second time) so can't have it for 3 months anyway, but I don't really see the need.

No

I dont see any benefit

It doesn't prevent transmission and its not that effective

I haven’t, part of my concern is that the vaccine seems to impact women’s menstrual cycle the impact of which doesn’t appear to be fully understood. While I’m well past the point of worrying about my fertility, I’m not prepared to potentially risk my DD’s for a vaccine that doesn’t actually stop her getting Covid.

I haven't got round to getting the primary aged child done. The only reason I can think to get it done is to annoy the anti vaxer in the wider family, and I'm not sure that's a good enough reason.
The adults and the teen have been done and as yet have managed to avoid it.

Nope and I don't care if they haven't had side effects straight after in fact all mine have had their childhood ones but this one not a chance. Maybe a few more years with long term data safety like the rest have had.

Yes because our travel insurance requires it. You’ll find that most travel insurance policies have a clause that all people insured must have had vaccinations in line with the uk schedule. Otherwise potentially not covered. Don’t suppose a lot of people know this though.

My youngest is 11 and a half though. It’s a bit tight time wise trying to get him double vaxxed before we go away. Had to wait 90 days after the most recent covid infection before he could get the first jab.

I’d be more nervous if he was younger, 5 or so. But I don’t want to go on holiday with invalid travel insurance. So we’ve gone ahead.

It could cause harm, it has caused heart issues, and there is a warning on the gov page.

I want to keep the risk at zero for mine.

DS5 has been fully vaccinated since January. We were faced with constant class closures for up to 2 weeks, in which I needed to take time off work. Being vaccinated meant he didn't have to stay home when he came into contact with anyone else testing positive. It also had an impact on travel. We had planned to see family in February and without being vaccinated, he would have had to quarantine at home for a week after.
I'm currently at home after testing positive and he's staying home with me. In theory, though, he could go to school.

We don't live in the UK, though. Rules here are different.

I think this is exactly right.

Its a question of balance. I ensured my children were vaccinated against all the potential serious/life threatening childhood illnesses but I don’t believe the risk - albeit very small - outweighs the benefits of protection against what is highly likely to be a very mild disease in the young. Don’t forget, the authorities took the same view with the AZ jab too.

I feel the same way about mass vaccinating children against flu too. I know there’s the argument that they can be superspreaders and potentially infect the elderly, but I would rather the resources were directed towards treating/prevention n the vulnerable cohort than expecting the young to be injected with something that is of no benefit to them at all.

When people respond ‘No no no’ or ‘absolutely not’ with no further explanation, can I ask why? Is it because you believe it will cause harm?

We're not vaccinating our two (7 and 8). Not because we think it will harm them, but because they are ridiculously unlikely to get seriously ill if they do catch it.

They're otherwise fully-vaccinated (and I paid for the meningitis vaccine as they just missed out on having this on the NHS).

No - I don't see the point. They've had all the other standard jabs so that's probably more indicative of my laziness as a parent than anything else.

Good grief no. Not my 3 year old not my 14 year old

My DS’ are adults now can can make the decision for themselves, if they were little and I needed to make the decision, no I wouldn’t agree for them to have the vaccine, totally unnecessary for them to have it.

Yes - my 7 year old was vaxxed in February. She has had COVID once (fairly mild) but I am hoping vaccination will help avoid Long COVID or potential unknown effects of repeated infection. Exposure to the virus in schools is constant and we will undoubtedly get it again - who knows what the implications are of kids having this novel virus multiple times every year?

Yes mainly to reduce hassle with travel. 10 yo had first jab a week ago - felt a little bit off the next day and a sore arm but otherwise fine

When people respond ‘No no no’ or ‘absolutely not’ with no further explanation, can I ask why? Is it because you believe it will cause harm?

Not being goady - am genuinely interested in all opinions. It seems to be a stronger reaction than just ‘I don’t think it’s necessary right now’.

No, absolutely not

I signed up for the vaccine, was triple dosed and really enthusiastic, believing in its benefits, but I’m now less and less convinced - to the point where, if my children were young again, I certainly would be having doubts about a pointless exercise.

I’ve never been anti vax and thought they were the way out of the pandemic but the longer this goes on, the more I suspect it actually has little overall impact on either severity or case numbers. I’ve known plenty of fully vaccinated people be very poorly and many unvaccinated have a mild dose or certainly no more severe. It seems literally down to how your own immune system responds to the virus. Omicron has exposed and brought this fact very clearly into focus for me.

I suspect cases and severity appears to have fallen because most of the population has had at least one dose and sadly, those that were most vulnerable have succumbed already. I also believe despite the massive vaccination drive, numbers will invariably rise again in the future and this will be an ongoing pattern for the rest of our lives. However, because Covid is now endemic, deaths and hospitalisations will remain low - not unlike the scenario when a remote tribe is first exposed to a common cold. Because their immune responses have initially not encountered the virus, casualties and acuteness is initially high but natural resistance quickly develops.

My ds are 8 and 10. They are not having the vaccine.

Totally agree.
My DD has had covid twice recently as well.

Just to add, I very much take issue with the idea of vaxxing kids to keep anyone else safe or whatever. The vaccines have a pretty limited impact on infection / transmission post- Omicron, as I think we've all seen this past winter. Their function is to protect the vaccinated from severe outcomes, which is of course why the JCVI are so unbothered about that age range.

No. I'm not anti-vax but for various reasons didn't get round to it.

What's the impact on travel insurance? Part of reason I wasn't bothering now was because of the timeframe of getting them "fully vaccinated" for travel.