Genuine question- why do low risk people need the vaccine ?

[stufftosay]

If a 20 year old's risk of death is so low and if we don't know or so far whether the vaccine prevents spread- why do they need to be vaccinated ?

If the vaccine prevents spread then I understand why. But so far they're saying it only prevents serious illness from covid. So if you're super low risk, why would you need to get it ? Genuine question. Please let me know if I've misunderstood something !

If we vaccinate all elderly and at risk patients, would this not be enough ? Does everyone need to be vaccinated because the vaccine is not 100 percent effective so there may be some vulnerable people who aren't protected by it? So we need to stamp it out completely ?

Once things reopen, young people may want to return to attending stuff like music gigs or work in jobs that can't be socially distanced like mass events. Although they may be younger, they will be more at risk than a 36yo who wfh and doesn't see clients.
Some events will have a mix of ages eg a football match so it makes sense that those who can be vaccinated are.

[quote tatutata]@whatswithtodaytoday that's literally the point I am making. Without vaccinating under 16s, I don't see how herd immunity is achieved given the rising % immunity that seems to be required.[/quote]
There are trials ongoing now in children, so I would imagine in time they will be vaccinated too. A quick Google suggests under 16s are around 19% of the population, so we will need high uptake by adults to achieve herd immunity, but every single vaccination is a step closer. Low community levels like we had in the summer will be the next best thing.

Surely it's better to try for herd immunity, than say fuck it and every under 50 year old eventually gets Covid?

www.nytimes.com/2020/12/02/health/Covid-Moderna-vaccine-children.html

It looks like they are testing for 12-16 yo atm

There are people on here that were part of the vaccine trials. They might have given permission for their kids to participate too?

@bobbojobbo has usefully highlighted that risk of death from Covid is only greater than risk of death from other means 50+.

Therefore, immunisation for the under 50s (unless their job means they could infect over 50s) is currently non existent.

Ergo .., protect the NHS from being overwhelmed.

Plus, this is not just 'immunisation', this is m&s Covid 19 immunisation. We take an RNA cell and smother it in delicious messenger ...

@bobbojobbo has usefully highlighted that risk of death from Covid is only greater than risk of death from other means 50+

I didn't, I highlighted that death is not the only metric that matters, particularly for younger people

I am not disagreeing that other metrics matter. Just that immunisation has no effect.

Which metric matters in terms of government policy?

Which metric matters in terms of government policy?

It would seem obvious that morbidity matters as well as mortality, if only for the fact that dead people don't cost the NHS further money once they are dead, unlike those that survive but suffer after initial recovery.

Also, how long does protection last until you need another vaccination? Nobody seems to talk about this.

We don't know yet.

99% of people who get polio have a mild gut infection, in only 1% of people does the nervous system get damaged. But the WHO are aiming to irradicate polio with their vaccine programme. On a worldwide population 1% of prople getting ill is very serious. That's why we will eventually vaccinate everyone against Covid-19, it's a low risk for most but for a western country the cost of caring for the sick is such that we'll eventually vaccinate everyone with the best vaccine available (which is not Oxford) because evfn the cost of Pfizer is cheap in comparison.

@bobbojobbo

Which metric matters in terms of government policy?

It would seem obvious that morbidity matters as well as mortality, if only for the fact that dead people don't cost the NHS further money once they are dead, unlike those that survive but suffer after initial recovery.

Absolutely this. Did you know that 20% of critically ill COVID patients are under 50? Yes, their chances of dying are low, but they still need hospital treatment. A small percentage of a big number is also a big number - if the under 50s are unvaccinated next winter and COVID makes its way through the population, the NHS will be just as overwhelmed as it is right now.