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?

@BettysCardigan

That's your view of what could happen in terms of mutations. Or actually, that's your hope.

Scientists the world over don't appear to want to take the chance with billions of lives though.

And yet other scientists the world over agree with me.

Ummm...do any of them work, for example, for the WHO, or do they just have YouTube accounts?

"“Symptoms” that could be simply a lingering cough or some tiredness - both quite common after lots of viruses. The whole ‘long covid’ thing is going to need to be broken down better to distinguish between those with lingering mild symptoms abc those with potentially life changing complications."

But that might mean exposing a truth that might mean thousands of parents won't want to inject their children with experimental vaccines..

Yes I would.

My teen is vulnerable at still homeschooling at the moment. I would like her to be protected.

Fuck NO

Is this another anti-vax scaremongering thread?
Some of us parents decided to take a chance with vaccine. There is no need for op to call us parents insane to make this choice.
If you don't want your dc vaccinated, then don't, OP.

All the people saying yes you would give them the vaccine, did you get your children vaccinated against chicken pox? That very sadly does kill some children in the UK every year and can cause long term disability in others, yet lots of people don't pay for the vaccine and let their children suffer the unpleasant illness & itchy spots. I dont understand why people take the risk with letting their kids catch chicken pox (which has a vaccine available at boots for £150) but are saying they won't take the risk with Covid which actually seems to be a milder illness in kids.

Viruses don't tend to mutate to be more deadly. They tend to become weaker. This is as immune systems become more primed to tackle them and because if a virus is extremely deadly, the host is usually, you know, dead. And therefore not out spreading it about.

This is not necessarily true. It depends on the selection pressures on the virus. It tends to be true when a mutation causes people get sick or die too quickly, for example, as you say. A mutation that decreases the average incubation period for Covid would be brilliant, because that long(ish) incubation period is a total fucker and why social distancing has been so important. A mutation that reduced asymptomatic transmission would also be great. A variant with a 50% longer incubation period would be a total bastard.

Covid hasn’t had very high selection pressures up until now which is why this period is a bit grim and worrying on that front.

And it’s why I’d look very carefully at vaccinating my children, because as long as the virus is able to circulate in kids there is the chance of a mutation that renders it more harmful to children (beyond the existent semi-known harms of long-term illness.)

All the people saying yes you would give them the vaccine, did you get your children vaccinated against chicken pox?

Yes.

But then I’m Australian in the UK, and can’t get my head around people’s willingness and positive enthusiasm to perpetuate chicken pox here.

@Mummabeary

All the people saying yes you would give them the vaccine, did you get your children vaccinated against chicken pox? That very sadly does kill some children in the UK every year and can cause long term disability in others, yet lots of people don't pay for the vaccine and let their children suffer the unpleasant illness & itchy spots. I dont understand why people take the risk with letting their kids catch chicken pox (which has a vaccine available at boots for £150) but are saying they won't take the risk with Covid which actually seems to be a milder illness in kids.

If there was a chicken pox vaccine available on the NHS then I would vaccinate. People don't vaccinate against chickenpox because many families can't afford £150 for a vaccine. Private vaccines would not occur to me unless for a very specific reason.

And I did not know it was available from Boots? Why would I?

@Mummabeary

All the people saying yes you would give them the vaccine, did you get your children vaccinated against chicken pox? That very sadly does kill some children in the UK every year and can cause long term disability in others, yet lots of people don't pay for the vaccine and let their children suffer the unpleasant illness & itchy spots. I dont understand why people take the risk with letting their kids catch chicken pox (which has a vaccine available at boots for £150) but are saying they won't take the risk with Covid which actually seems to be a milder illness in kids.

Yes. Ds had it on the NHS as his consultant felt he would be more vulnerable to complications, in part due to the scarring on his lungs and frequent pneumonias.

@Comefromaway It's a fair point. I only got my kids vaccinated because I have a couple of good friends who are doctors and they said most medics go and get the jab for their kids having seen the effects chicken pox can have in severe cases. I guess it just illustrates the point that we live with lots of risks like this without really knowing and the Covid risks have just been so drummed into us that people can start to feel they need to vaccinate their children when covid really is a tiny tiny risk compared to other risks in the life of a child.

@EnjoyingTheArmoire

Yes I would.

My teen is vulnerable at still homeschooling at the moment. I would like her to be protected.

@EnjoyingTheArmoire Do you mind me asking, how the school have been about your teen being home now shielding has ended. Ds went back after Easter, but ntil he can be vaccinated we are going to be nervous.

*obviously the risks may be higher for clinically vulnerable children

Covid is killing an awful lot of children in Brazil too.

I dont understand why people take the risk with letting their kids catch chicken pox (which has a vaccine available at boots for £150)

We couldn't afford it - £150 may not be a lot of you but even now it's a considerable sum for us.

At time we asked our then GP who insisted it was unnesssary and wouldn't be as good at giving long lasting immunity as getting CP and it wasn't free as part national program.

We did have a go at saving for multiple children - as were were aware of rare severe complications - but at the time I couldn't afford the persciption charge for my persciptions or other very basic stuff for us adults - and then our children got CP and were fine.

So I think making out not paying for a chicknepox vaccine is comparable to accepting a free mass vaccination program injection for covid before which experts will have evaluated any risk benefit - is pretty shit really.

I'm not sure I would accept covid vaccines for my children - like every other vaccination they've had we'd put a lot of thought into any decision.

DS still breastfeeds, so he'll have some antibodies that way due to my vaccine, but that won't last forever. As long as the vaccines pass safety trials and are ok once administered to sufficient older children then we'll have him vaccinated. There is very little risk of death for children from covid, or even of PIMS or the effects on organs of a severe case of covid, but I would prefer the much lower risk of a vaccine because living our normal lives (in London, occasional travel) exposure to covid is going to be inevitable in the medium term.

He had the chickenpox vaccine at 13 months. I didn't leave it any later than I had to because as PP says, some people seem to think it's harmless and are happy to spread it.

I don't want too- but if they had to have it to be able to go on holiday or live a normal life then yes- have no choice really, I don't want them missing out and I would hope for the best. If they are able to live life normally without it then I'd wait a couple of years see if their are any side effects. I've just had my second and I feel absolutely dreadful.

Mine are old enough to make up their own minds

My DD1 (19) will have it - mainly due to the talk of vaccine passports. She wants to get back to uni, pubs, clubs, festivals, travelling etc and if the only way to do so is to have the jab, she will but under protest. She’s young, fit and healthy with no underlying conditions.

DD2 (16) it’s up to her, I’m not going to discourage her if that’s what she wants, but I’m not going to encourage her either. Again though, if COVID passports mean she can’t go on holiday, go to college, take part in her hobbies, then she’ll have it under protest.

The more people that are vaccinated, the more we get control of our lives and that includes keeping children/teenagers in school. I have a teenage DD and we've talked about this, and she's said she have a vaccine as she wants to live her life, sit her exam results and see her friends.

My friend's son is 17 and has been vaccinated due to a ECV member of the family. I guess there's a few others in the 16-18 age category who've had it done, so if nothing else I suspect they'll be added onto the summer rollout.

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

@LastChanceToChange do you want the honest answer to that? I would prioritise my DC's health over every single person on the planet, including any of my elderly relatives. I love my parents dearly, but if I had to choose I would always choose my children's health. And I know that is exactly what my mum would want me to do. My parents aren't elderly anyway, they're 60s, have been jabbed. My elderly grandparent has also been jabbed. He is in absolutely terrible health, to the point where death would be a kindness. So I don't really have this as a consideration. Would still choose my children's health every single time. Easy choice for me.

Mine are too young so I can't answer. A teenager i would allow to chose.

I asked several drs about the chicken pox vaccine and they all said that as it isn't guaranteed to be lifelong it could cause problems later

I will definitely vaccininate for flu as I know a healthy 4yo who sadly died from it a few years ago.

My kids can't wait to get it (teens under 18)

Yes I would vaccinate.