Get boosted...but still nothing for under 12s?

[Cutie101]

As a primary school teacher, AIBU to ask why on earth we still aren't vaccinating young children? My own child's year group has closed as almost half the year group have tested positive over over last week including a teacher (not omicron).
I have children hugging me, fingers up nose and all over everything all day every day, but still I am basically working in a petri dish. This is a disaster waiting to happen. This is crazy.

I’d much much rather see these vaccines being given to third world countries where vulnerable people are still without any vaccine.

If it is sanctioned for under 12s I really think that any covid passport should not be linked to jabs for under 12s. I have been v Ill since my 2nd jab, I know lots of people who have, doctors just brush it off with “it’s not a noted side effect” well it never will be noted at this rate, even though blood tests have now proven the inflation I have been complaining of since my second jab, it’s still not being taken seriously.

My 9 year old is not at risk of covid why vaccinate him? It won’t stop him passing it on.

Yes the elderly relative of these children need protecting. That is why these relatives have been offered the vaccine. My child should not be put at risk by having a vaccine that may not be safe for him to benefit someone else who can protect themselves. My son has a heart condition and the risk of myocarditis if he has the vaccine terrifies me. His older brother at 15 is vaccinated to reduce the risk to his sibling because the risk to him is far less likely to be serious. However My youngest will not be having the vaccine. These jabs are not risk free. My mother had her booster and went blind for 10 minutes. They thought she suffered a stroke. 3 weeks on she has had several rounds of blood tests mri scans the lot to determine why she is still in excruciating pain with a severe headache ever since. They suspect a possible bleed on the brain but it seems the doctor request one type of scan whilst the hospital carries out another. This means no result is conclusive. Hence why I will not risk my child's health for a vaccine. And no I am not anti vaccinations I had my booster Saturday. Its about the risks being assessed correctly. My child is unlikely to suffer seriously from covid so he will not be vaccinated but to reduce his risk of infection we have all received the jab.

Inflammation not inflation!

@SaltedCaramelHC

you can when it's part of general health, including mental health.

Politics can never be a consideration in medicine, of any form…what a dreadful suggestion.

Or if you have no understanding of how viruses spread maybe you should button it.
She signed up to be a teacher. She didnt sign up to endanger herself and ger family.

@TremoloGreen

Exactly. Don't think you understand how public health decisions are reached. School closures are not just political by any means.

If you want an example of how overall 'public benefit' decisions are used to make decisions in the UK's national vaccination programme, consider the Varicella vaccine which is approved for infant over 12 months but not adopted in UK for the general population (only those considered high risk for complication from chickenpox). Why? Because it's beneficial to keep chickenpox in the general population... for adults who have previously contracted chickenpox, being exposed to children with the condition gives an immunity boost that reduces the risk of shingles (which is much more likely to cause complications, peripheral nerve damage etc). Simply put, when it was costed, it's more expensive for people to have shingles than for children to have chickenpox, which is generally a mild disease (high-risk children excepted per policy).

Sorry if you don't like that, but that's exactly how it works... and isn't necessarily unreasonable IMHO. I think I already said that I feel my children are more likely to suffer harm from a patchy education/ limited social opportunities than from a COVID vaccination. At a population level you also have to think of harm to all childrens' education, social development, risk of abuse, risk of poverty because parents lose jobs/money due to lockdowns, being affected by parental mental health problems etc.

This is such a worrying post, and another example of the faulty reasoning behind our response to the pandemic.

Put simply, Two wrongs don’t make a right. Just because we have unreasonably made children suffer unnecessarily in scenario A, that cannot be used as justification to do a similar, equally unreasonable thing in scenario B.

(You’re factually right though, which is why my DC received the varicella vaccine privately)

Completely agree. And there's evidence Omicron spreads fastest in this age group without any reassurance there are no longer term health implications. Meanwhile other countries have successfully vaccinated under 12s and shown it is not an issue. Very rare myocardial issues are almost always successfully addressed in a short time frame. Meanwhile it is unfortunately not the case that children don't become ill and die with Covid and there is evidence the virus has mutated to use children as a host more effectively.

It's scandalous.

People don't seem to understand that societal vaccination is not, and never has been, about individual protection against disease. The entire concept of a vaccination programme is about reducing the pool of those available to be infected to eliminate the spread of a disease in the population, something we are currently not doing. The problem is that covid, under the true definition of vaccination, can't be vaccinated against, as people don't develop full or long term immunity. So we have this weird halfway house pushing the emphasis onto individual protection and a neverending cycle of boosters as these conditions provide pressure for the virus to mutate. We've built an enormous rod for our backs.

@FortniteBoysMum you said Yes the elderly relative of these children need protecting. That is why these relatives have been offered the vaccine

Not all the vulnerable are old. And immunosuppressed people, half a million of them, do not necessarily have antibodies after repeated vaccination.

Well, if you're happy to have repeated school closures, class closures, teachers off sick/self-isolating, and regular periods of self-isolation for you and your child, then go ahead, don't vaccinate.

I only hope that when the vaccination is available for the over-5s that they keep the schools open for the vaccinated kids.

@PastMyBestBeforeDate your right but that does not mean we risk our children suffering serious complications when the risks to them are low.

My dc currently have covid: both asymptomatic. The risk of the illness does not outweigh the risk of the vaccine in my mind. I Wouk the give them it even if it was offered though I assume there's a reason it hasn't been approved. I work in a class of 5/6 year olds and if I get it I get it. If I haven't caught it with dd sleeping in my bed breathing directly in my face all night and stealing my drinks though I doubt the dc wiping their nose on my sleeve at work will manage

The jvci are considering currently and a decision is expected before Christmas according to the news today

@TremoloGreen

Well, if you're happy to have repeated school closures, class closures, teachers off sick/self-isolating, and regular periods of self-isolation for you and your child, then go ahead, don't vaccinate.

I only hope that when the vaccination is available for the over-5s that they keep the schools open for the vaccinated kids.

And so it begins. All the “it’ll be a choice”! “Just give parents the choice!” people soon display their true coercive colours. My main concern is that it won’t be a true choice because people like you will get their way and access to society will become contingent on vaccination for even the youngest children. I would fully support other people who assess the risk/benefit decision around vaccination differently vaccinating their 5 year olds, but not if there’s a chance it’s going the way you want it to - if it’s not a real choice then none of them should have it (bar medical exceptions).

I think the risk to a child's wellbeing if they bring a virus home from school that kills their vulnerable sibling or parent is significant. You may not @FortniteBoysMum

There are a few sides to this. The ones who are vulnerable and the vaccine risks causing them harm ie my youngest son, those who have someone at home who is at a greater risk if they are not vaccinated( why my eldest was vaccinated to reduce risk to his sibling) and those who have no real benefit either way as low risk of serious illness without anyone at real risk at home. These jabs can have serious side effects. As I say my mum is still experiencing these several weeks on.

Had my mum been a child and had the reaction she had it could alter their entire life.

I don't want to coerce anyone. I just don't want my children to miss any more school if they don't need to.

You're welcome to make your own choices. Just as I would have to trade off the risks of the vaccination against the risk to my child of missing out educationally, so would you. You might make a different decision - good for you.

@TremoloGreen

I don't want to coerce anyone. I just don't want my children to miss any more school if they don't need to.

You're welcome to make your own choices. Just as I would have to trade off the risks of the vaccination against the risk to my child of missing out educationally, so would you. You might make a different decision - good for you.

The risks to children’s education come primarily from the policy response to the virus, not the virus itself. It is absolutely coercion to say that one group of 5 year olds - not adults, 5 year olds - would have to isolate and the other group wouldn’t. Under those circumstances I would have to have my child vaccinated, against my will, for them to be able to continue to receive an education and for me to be able to continue to work. That’s coercion.

In case not fully clear from last post, I hope we can vaccinate as many people as possible (for whom it's safe) and stop the spread as much as possible so we can all get on with our lives. I think it's actually young people who are missing out the most by the current cycle of restrictions and lockdowns and school closures.

It's different to say that I hope schools will stay open for vaccinated children to saying I hope they close them to unvaccinated.

I don’t understand why it’s not ALL secondary school children for a start.,.
My DS is the only one out of his friendship group of 8/9 kids who hasn’t had his jab because he’s 11 not 12. Surely it would have made more sense to just vaccinate all of them?

So schools not closed to unvaccinated children, unvaccinated children just aren’t able to access them? It’s the same end result and it doesn’t leave people able to make a genuine choice.

My 7 yr old has v complex medical needs and we are still not able to get him vacinated. We are back in lockdown effectively. Though in reality we have never truly left it !

Yes they should be vaccinated but at the moment the priority absolutely has to be boosters in age groups likely to end up in hospital. It isn’t the children putting NHs under pressure.