To be worried about the corona virus vaccine

[Jazzy1814]

I’m going to start by saying I’m absolutely pro vaccine and I’ve paid for private vaccinations for my children that weren’t available on the nhs before but I’m so worried about giving my dc the corona virus vaccine. My concern is not the amount of time it has taken to develop but more the fact that they haven’t had time to study any long term side effects, usually vaccinations and drug trials can take any where between 7-15 years and yet we are reading this could be rolled out within a few months. I want to protect the vulnerable and have followed the rules so far but injecting something into my children that could cause possible side effects in the future really worries me . Please tell me I am not the only one feeling this way or can someone please educate me on how this is safe without the time to study long term possible damage.

under 18s will not be offered any vaccine for a long, long time after everyone else has had the vaccine and by then we will be in a position to know ourselves whether it works and if there are any concerns with it.

I didn’t realise this , that’s very reassuring.

It’ll be ages and ages before you’ll be offered the vaccine

This is a potentially helpful post on Twitter addressing the concern around vaccines normal taking longer.

mobile.twitter.com/mark_toshner/status/1328837111869566976

There's an element of balancing known and unknown risks here, both societal and personal; and also that the same uncertainty about what could happen in the long term applies to getting the virus too, at least as much.

But remember we choose between uncertain risks every time we choose where to go, what to eat, etc. - hopefully you can see this is fundamentally reassuring rather than worrying.

I have no idea whether it'll even be offered to children but I feel the same as you OP. I'm not an antivaxxer by any stretch (my kids have had extra vaccines) but I'm not comfortable with the unknown of the long term effects, especially given it would be to protect others in society rather than my kids (and I know that's selfish).

Why are you worried about a vaccine hat won’t be available to your kids?

New vaccines usually don’t look at long term side effects anyway. There is a reporting system in place to record side effects. (Not always properly though)

I honestly didn’t realise they weren’t going to be available to children but that’s good to know because now I have nothing to worry about :)

Completely understand where you’re coming from, I’d had the same thoughts and felt selfish but in all honesty I would always put my children before everyone. Looking at these comments though it’s looking like they aren’t going to be giving them to children so that’s one less thing to worry about 😅 x

Vaccines won’t be available to under eighteens,

But in any event, even you will be far enough down the priority list that any side effects will likely have been documented by the time it gets to your turn to have it.

I am personally of the opinion that someone has to be first, These vaccines aren’t just thrown out there, well apart from the one which is being advertised on the internet which hasn’t had any stage3 testing (but anyone who buys an untested vaccine off the internet is frankly deserving of a Darwin Award....)

I am vulnerable due to heart failure and I’ve had people say that I am irresponsible for being prepared to have the vaccine so early on. Personally I am of the view that we take risks all the time.

I have a device in my chest which was only licenced for use on the NHS in December 2018 and I had it fitted in June 2019. The long term effects are not yet known, but without it I would literally be dead, so I’ll take the here and now ta very much.

Also, saying that you don’t want your kids vaccinated to protect others, are you happy then for others to be vaccinated to protect your kids? the ones you wouldn’t want vaccinated?

I think this is the thing every ones circumstances are different and I can absolutely see why you would take the vaccine however I have a very vulnerable 15 year old niece who has a life limiting lung condition and diabetes and my sil is still concerned about the rush on this vaccine. I can imagine that even though the devise you use has only recently been licenced for use on the nhs it has probably been tested for a very long time prior to that. Like I said my children have had all of their vaccinations including private ones and they will continue to do so to protect them and others but I can’t help questioning if it is worth the small chance of harming my children with a vaccine against a virus that rarely targets their age group and hasn’t been thoroughly tested. I had just been thinking a lot about it recently. I guess all of my worries were pointless as it has been pointed out we will have a long time before we are offered the vaccination any way.

Vaccine manufacturing has come a long way and most vaccines have the same base layer and will be similar to other flu vaccines
I see no harm

Also, saying that you don’t want your kids vaccinated to protect others, are you happy then for others to be vaccinated to protect your kids? the ones you wouldn’t want vaccinated?

Not at all. I don't consider my kids to be at any particular risk from covid, which is why I wouldn't take the risk of the vaccine, so I don't need anyone else to be vaccinated to protect them ta. If they were high risk, then of course the benefit vs risk analysis would be different. But, obviously, I would make decisions based on what's best for my children, not what's best for the general population.

I think it'll take a long time before kids are vaccinated. Elderly, health workers, the vulnerable will be first. They do say it might turn out to be an annual thing but by that point we'll have had time to consider any adverse reactions.

I wouldn't be lining up for my kids to take this vaccine. I'd take it myself though.

If you really want to know all the inside and out on the covid vaccine, listen to peterattiamd.com/pauloffit/ the first 15 min roughly are about Paul Offit and vaccines in general, but then they go into gritty details on the different vaccines being developed and how they will be distributed.
And they talk about kids as well so @Jazzy1814 so you can jump to 1h21 min for that.

I agree OP, these vaccines have been rushed out and I am pleased that everyone in my household will be at the back of the queue to receive it. None of us would qualify for it in any of the categories and that's fine with me.

Exactly. Every medication comes with the risk of side effects, I recently had antibiotics that said there’s a change of future strokes 😳 but we weigh up the risks and benefits and that’s all I’m doing. The vaccinations they’ve had in the past are to protect other people but also because they themselves are at risk. There are more hospitalisation every year and in fact more deaths in children from chicken pox than there has been from covid so I don’t feel it’s necessary to put them at risk of unknown side effects from a vaccination that hasn’t had any long term testing.

How many deaths from the chicken pox vaccine?

I don’t know, the chicken pox vaccine isn’t available in the uk.

The chicken pox vaccine most certainly is available in the U.K. because I’ve paid for my kids to have it.

It isn’t available on the nhs is what I’m saying. I don’t blame you for paying for it either my dd had a horrible case of chicken pox.

Because it isn’t available on the nhs most children in the uk are not vaccinated against chicken pox.

The problem is the in order to know the long term effects in children, we will need children to be vaccinated.... waiting longer before allowing the vaccine to be used on children in itself does nothing.
I also wouldn't be so sure about the thorough testing of medical devices. The approval regime is much more relaxed then the regime for drugs.

I may have already had the vaccine (could have been the placebo), I would still give it to my children if they were offered, especially the novavax of Oxford vaccine.

I very much doubt it will be offered to children for at least 18 months and probably longer. Children mainly do not suffer and if all adults are vaccinated it would not require them to vaccinate the children.

The Oxford Vaccine has been trialled with children since the beginning, and Pfizer started testing over 12s in October.

Ds's paediatrician and drs seem to think a vaccine will be rolled out to children at a later date (possibly towards the end of next year). There are questions over when children with medical vulnerabilities would be able to be vaccinated.

@Jazzy1814

It isn’t available on the nhs is what I’m saying. I don’t blame you for paying for it either my dd had a horrible case of chicken pox.

It is available on the NHS to children with underlying conditions that may be exacerbated by chicken pox, and Pre Covid there were discussions about it being included in the NHS vaccination programme.