Would you vaccinate your child?

[rolloverrosie]

Have just seen a post (in the daily Mail, sorry) suggesting that all over 12s could be offered a vaccine from September. It made mention of the AZ vaccine trials in children above 6 so I am unsure whether this vaccine is one of the ones planned for use?

This was along side the news that the az vaccine carries a 1 in 126000 chance of death.

Bearing in mind that 14 people under 20 have died of Covid.

How is this a sensible risk/benefit analysis?!

I am in my late 30s and when I did the Covid calculator my risk of dying if I caught Covid (which is obviously not a guaranteed thing) is 1 in 145000 so I am assuming the risk for a 12 year old is thousands of times less than that.

Who would vaccinate their children?

If they're at higher risk from coronavirus than the vaccine then absolutely I would. If the vaccine poses more potential risks to them then no I wouldn't. No way will I vaccinate them if that is a bigger risk to them, to prevent spread and transmission. How is that an 'I'm alright Jack' attitude? Why the hell would I care about random strangers more than my own DC?

I'm very pro-vaxx, have had the AZ and would encourage anyone else to have it too, but I do agree with Strawberry on this.

Our children have already sacrificed a hell of a lot over the past year, to protect us. We shouldn't be asking them to risk their lives, on top of all that.

Highly unethical and I'm gobsmacked anybody would go along with this given the risk level is so low for young children as to be virtually non-existent; and that this vaccine only has emergency use authorisation; and the stats about side effects are still coming in.
Jesus.

We shouldn't be asking them to risk their lives, on top of all that.

Indeed. And that's exactly what we'd be doing if we vaccinated them using this brand new type of vaccine. For a disease which poses no risk to them. Why should they be forced to take such risks protect us? The science behind that isn't even sound. It's horrifying. It's just wrong.

My only child in that age group is 15 soon so I would let him decide. He did for the HPV vaccine.

Absolutely no chance.
Not only are children far less likely to contract covid but if they do the symptoms are likely to be very mild. My own dd didn't contract covid when both myself and DH had it and we were stuck in the house together for 2 weeks. No way id let my child be a guinea pig for the vaccine

No I wouldn’t but mine are 2.5 and 4.

The trouble is that if kids aren’t vaccinated, the virus will evolve to be more successful in kids, and that possibly will lead to further mutations which eventually beat the adult vaccines.

Ds is 10 and has shielded all year, so yes we will be getting him vaccinated when one is available. I understand the AZ trials are still paused, but I hope the Pfizer children's trials will mean that there will be a vaccine suitable in the not too distant future.
With ds back at school now, we're relying on crossing our fingers...and that's about it.

@StrawberryLipstickStateOfMind

Me too. Why wouldn't you? Safe and effective. Prevents spread/transmission. People need to see the bigger picture....not the 'I'm alright Jack' attitude

If they're at higher risk from coronavirus than the vaccine then absolutely I would. If the vaccine poses more potential risks to them then no I wouldn't. No way will I vaccinate them if that is a bigger risk to them, to prevent spread and transmission. How is that an 'I'm alright Jack' attitude? Why the hell would I care about random strangers more than my own DC?

do you have elderly vulnerable people in your family? Vaccines cannot protect them all. Would you like your kids to give them covid?

Risk of death from vaccine is not 1 in 126000. That’s the risk of a clot. Mortality rate is 20% or thereabouts of those unlucky 1/126000.

Nice guilt tripping there ! If they are vaccinated then likely to only get it mildly . Norovirus kills granny’s , shingles does . Best keep kids away full stop in case they kill granny when they are asymptomatic or presymptomatic

@feesh

The trouble is that if kids aren’t vaccinated, the virus will evolve to be more successful in kids, and that possibly will lead to further mutations which eventually beat the adult vaccines.

Total speculation. No scientific evidence for any of this.

@Nerdygirl

Nice guilt tripping there ! If they are vaccinated then likely to only get it mildly . Norovirus kills granny’s , shingles does . Best keep kids away full stop in case they kill granny when they are asymptomatic or presymptomatic

I don’t even think asymptomatic transmission has been well established. So just keep the kids away when they are sick and that should take care of a lot of problems.

It would be highly irresponsible to vaccine your child right now. They said they don't know whether it affects fertility or not yet. Enough said

Yes, I would without a doubt.
It's not just about immediate risk to my child.
It's risk of passing on to others, including more vulnerable children and adults, including those who can't be vaccinated.
It's because their risk will rise as they get older.
It's because some of the new variants seem to hit younger people harder.
Vaccines have saved millions of lives and will continue to do so.
Anything about vaccines does tend to result in a bunfight but I do find it incredibly selfish of otherwise healthy people not to get vaccinated.

Yes, he is vulnerable

They said they don't know whether it affects fertility or not yet.

Who is 'they'? Could you link to the information?
My teenage dds are keen to get the vaccine when one is available in their age range, but obviously such an enormous risk, ie to future fertility, would have to be considered.

The virus may not be a risk to them now but once adults are vaccinated and the virus is only circulating around children there is the risk that future mutations will be more harmful for children.

There is no long-term safety data to these vaccines! The trial continues until 2023. But even after then there could be longer-term effects.

Children and young people are not vulnerable. It is highly irresponsible to vaccinate them.

Yes - for the same reason that they also have the flu vaccine (to protect others) and to ensure they have a decent education ongoing...

Thing is with flu vacciantions the take up across the population is not on same scale

In the 2019-20 season, more than 14 million adults and children were vaccinated against flu across the UK. source . Currently with covid 11 million have had both jabs in UK and 33,257,651 had first jab and the program is ongoing Sky News

As there are multiple strains flu vaccines offer between 40-60% protection depending on how well they get a match to ciculating strains. The covid vaccine seem to be offering more protection even with just one jab.

Plus there research showing children are a reservoir of infection for flu but that doesn't seem to be the case for covid - at least not yet. Plus as PP said risks for flu for children/teens is greater than for covid.

So I don't think a mass covid vaccination for over 12s is such an obviously good idea as the current flu vaccination program as the wider covid vaccination program and the greater protection should mean really low levels in community anyway.

I think things would rapidly change if a mutation started targetting children and the risk/benefit evaluation would be different - but we don't have that currently or if covid hospital addmissions went rapidly up despite vaccination program - which looks unlikely.

So I can see why trials have been done - so data was/is there but I don't see need for mass vaccination program yet - a target one for unsually vunerable to covid children I could see being done.

I think covid is if anything more liable to affect fertility than vaccines.

Covid can attach to ACE II receptors and these are found on gonads.

It is possible for other viral illnesses such as mumps to affect fertility.

There isn't a scientifically plausible mechanism that would cause these vaccines to affect fertility.

As far as long term effects are concerned, we are awaiting data for both the vaccines and for long term effects of covid. Generally,the long term effects of pathogens tend to be more of a problem than of vaccines.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-56012529

@WednesburyPrinciple

Risk of death from vaccine is not 1 in 126000. That’s the risk of a clot. Mortality rate is 20% or thereabouts of those unlucky 1/126000.

Oh well that’s all right then. The other 80% with a major brain bleed / stroke are fine and dandy because they didn’t die. Ffs

No I wouldn't. The risk from Covid for them is very small. I had the vaccine myself and had quite bad side effects from it. I'm not going to give it to my children when the disease itself isn't a major threat to them.

@RolloTomassi

Absolutely not. The virus poses virtually no risk so I'd want to know the longterm outcomes first. If that's unhelpful in terms of wider community transmission then hard luck.

Agreed

The AZ vaccine trials have been paused. Ds who is 17 wanted to take part in them but we didn't live in the right area.

I would absolutely vaccinate my child.