Prospects for ECV children?

[cactusrevolution]

Vaccine news is excellent for the majority of clinically vulnerable people who can expect to be offered the vaccine in the coming months. But, as far as I know, the vaccine won't be approved for under-18s for quite some time, so any clinically vulnerable children will presumably remain high risk.

I have an ECV 18 month old, with two older siblings both at school - to say the last year has been stressful is an understatement. I'm fully expecting that current restrictions will be eased once most clinically vulnerable people have been vaccinated. Seriously worried about the implications for my DD if / when this happens. Apart from the Covid risk, she's otherwise happy, healthy and developing well, with a good long-term prognosis. But she hasn't had anything like resembling a normal life essentially since she was born (no socialising with other children / babies, never been to the shops or on a bus, and so much more) and it's depressing to think that this could continue indefinitely.

Anyone else in a similar boat with ECV DC? Is there any prospect of parents of ECV children being offered the vaccine to offer some additional protection (DH and I are under 50 with no underlying health conditions, so not on any priority list)?

It does feel as if there might be an end in sight for most, which is wonderful, but unfortunately not for us and others in a similar boat

I have nothing to say to help you but I just wanted to post to acknowledge how tough this has been for you, and all parents/family of ECV children. I hope the vaccine works its way down to vulnerable children/ their parents at some point and that your burden eases.

@Piggyinblankets thank you for your kind words. I know we have to be patient, and keep hoping for the best. Like so many others, just desperate for this all to be over.

Obviously, much depends on why she's on the ecv list. Was she on the updated one or just the first one in March April?

Tbh, I think that I'd have opted to home Ed the older children for now. I know not ideal, though better than the alternative.

For the future, I was advised it would likely take years for young children to receive it. The flu vaccination was available from the mid 1940s, yet only given to children in the last 8 years in the UK.

Have you tried connecting with other families in similar situations? If local and you're all reducing risks in the same way they maybe able to offer support maybe even playdates moving forward to the warmer months....

I think the situation will improve slightly as there’s more immunity in society as a whole. Eg it coupe become something more like chicken pox? That only really spreads between children with the occasional adult catching it.

Not that that would be ideal for your DC but might help as a way of thinking about it and would suggest that buses and shops etc with generally be much safer than they are now.

Some older children in certain circumstances will be eligible with other ecv individuals, for the vaccine.

This obviously wouldn't include your dd, and it doesn't include our ds (10, shielding, and remote learning this term on advice from dr). Ds's Dr has been hopeful about a vaccine which medically vulnerable children will be able to get, whether this is the Oxford Vaccine, I don't know.

Sorry that is a difficult situation. It's unlikely a vaccine will be approved for children anytime soon, it will be years, even if it's one of the existing vaccines. It depends what your DDs condition is, there have been very few deaths of young children, even with underlying conditions. The likelihood of your DD dying, unless a very serious condition, is very low. When the country goes back to normal around spring/summer time it would probably be better to home school your older DC as it will spread around the general population and in schools more than now, but hopefully once that settles down the risk will be a lot lower.

@MotherExtraordinaire DD was on the updated ECV list. She should, in theory, grow out of her health condition in time, but for the time being we're dealing with a lot of uncertainty. Good idea to try to connect with others locally who may be going through something similar. We are new to our area (had to do an international move in the summer - brilliant timing!), so don't really have a support network here yet.

@PinkPlantCase I certainly hope that's where we end up.

@HazeyJaneII that's encouraging information from your son's doctor. We've postponed a lot of DD's medical non urgent appointments until the spring (not keen on taking her into major hospitals at present unless absolutely necessary), so hoping that there might be more clarity on the way ahead then. Hope that your DS is coping OK with shielding and remote learning. Easier in most ways for an 18 month old, as she has no idea what is happening, and nothing to compare to.

@Mousehole10 you're probably right. Trying to balance the needs of my older DC (who really suffered with home schooling and isolation during the first lockdown) with keeping DD safe is incredibly difficult. More tough choices ahead.

cactus, I understand your worry. One of my DC was on the shielding list and, although now removed from it, remains vulnerable. I worry that there is going to be a period next year that will become far more dangerous as everyone relaxes once their older relatives have been vaccinated.

Shielding children and their siblings have been very rarely acknowledged throughout the pandemic and it now seems as though they have been completely forgotten.

Our doctor reckons the kids will be allowed the oxford one but not phitzer.
( daughter is ECV )
He said they the oxford one will be passed to children quicker because it’s based on old vaccinations rather than a new concept.

DC haven't really been part of the main CEV list since they issued the new paediatric guidance.

So OP must have had an individual review for her DD, confirming the need to shield (and possibly requiring permanent precaution, rather than the varying level for others)

And yes, it's horrible and very difficuot to manage when you cannot separate the shielded person from the rest of the household, and everyone else is going out and about.

There is no solution.

One think the pandemic has reinforced to me is how readily a surprisingly large number of people are ready to tell the vulnerable to just 'protect themselves' (even when protection isn't available) and that we're gong t ,die anyway

He said they the oxford one will be passed to children quicker because it’s based on old vaccinations rather than a new concept

I think you've got that a bit garbled. Both are new, but different new tech. The modified chimpanzee virus approach has only been used in one veterinary vaccine so far. It is novel in humans.

The mRNA vaccine has been okay'ed for many CEV groups (safe, even for those with very dodgy immune systems) and likely to produce the desired effect. Not clear if they will be doing and surveillance testing in the CEV to check if those with particular conditions do indeed form an immune response

@nether it’s was never that well planned unfortunately
When they updated CEV to say that most children will be removed and clinical guidance form doctors would decide.
It wasn’t that simple at all, the peadatric guidelines actually stated very few illnesses needed to shield however many consultants never for around to removing children and many people couldn’t get an answer from their GP.
We are lucky because we have constant access to our consultant for daughter and she has 3 weeks reviews but many people were left in limbo for months with the kids.
According to the government only about 9,000 kids in the whole country were supposed to be on the list but about 75 percent of other parents I spoke to hadn’t been removed.

We weren't on the original UK shielding list in the spring as we were living overseas then (although we had a very similar system where we were living) . DD was assessed by her new doctors in the UK over the autumn. In our case at least, there are no clear-cut answers about how Covid would affect our DD, but all her doctors, here and overseas, have encouraged us to err on the side of caution until more is known.

I will continue to keep a close eye on the news on the various vaccines as they roll out. And otherwise I guess we need to keep the hatches battened down as much as possible…