Pfizer approved for 12-15 year olds

[LimeAndLemons]

Just seen this.
The UK regulator has said the benefits outweigh the risks in giving it to 12-15yo.

Would you let your child have it? I'm very conflicted on this.

No my child will not be having it, they are 12 in a few months. I am still undecided on having mine let alone giving it to my child.

My younger 2 will have it. DD2 and DS once he turns 12. DD1 is 17 and already had both doses.

Yes, but dd is nearly 16 so it's her choice tbh. She is intelligent and well informed enough to make her own decision, and she is very clear that she wants to be vaccinated, so I'm happy to support that. If she chose not to get it, I'd be disappointed, but I would respect her decision.

My eldest is just under the age bracket but yes, once available, my children will be having the vaccine.

I'll be vaccinating mine (with mRNA) in anticipation of any potentially more severe variant which may be protected against by that vaccine. Same reason I had myself vaccinated.

I would. Teenagers may be very low risk from covid but they are high risk for missing out on education/sport/socialisation. Another year of on off school and barely seeing friends will do a lot more damage than a tiny risk of vaccine side effects.

Yes, I will have my 12 year old vaccinated when offered.

The thing is the risk to children maybe low now, but viruses exploit available populations. So given we've vaccinated older people it's not unlikely that variants that infect children more easily possibly causing more severe disease will emerge. Given that there is little social distancing in socials kids will potentially be more at risk than they are now.

Equally a friend is wheelchair bound after a vaccine reaction.

Mine are too young at the moment but if approved yes I think I would vaccinate

I don't know. At the moment I'm leaning towards not as the risk to my DD12 and DD13 is low and everyone we know who could be vulnerable is vaccinated. Both hate needles and it would very hard to make them take a vaccine that not everyone was taking/where they couldn't see a benefit. If the national situation changes: it starts hitting kids harder, hospitalisations/deaths surge, we have another lockdown, I'd reconsider.

My 15 year old had covid last year and now has long covid, she has limited energy and stamina and is in pain a lot of the time.

I definitely support teens getting the vaccine. My older DC had her first dose today and I’m really relieved it’s got round to the kids now.

Vaccines/meds will always have a risk, when I was born the whooping cough vaccine was controversial. I was still given it.

It’s up to each one of us whether to accept the vaccine or risk contracting an illness which could have pretty nasty consequences. I’ve had close hand loss of friends and family affected by covid. So I’m in support of the vaccine. I understand the fears of those who refuse it. But I don’t get the sneering and anger at people making their own decision to take the vaccine.

Mine are 26 , 18, 10 and 8 . The older 2 are happy to have the vaccine once it's their turn .

My concern is the same as @Brambelspoint that it might mutate and become more harmful to children. Although my 10 year old is the only one out of all my family who's actually had covid

I think it'll be a long time until a healthy child without underlying conditions is even offered.

But if I were the parent of a 12 to 15 year old with serious underlying medical issues, I'd be delighted and booking them in like a shot.

No. Not when the age range is lowered again. I will be refusing permission for my kids to have it.

Mine will. My 17 year old would take it, even if I disagreed. He believes it should be mandatory.

My 14 year old is asthmatic and has had every jab offered so far, including the swine flu jab in the first week it was rolled out.

My mother grew up in an area of a country with no vaccines, and many of her childhood friends died of preventable diseases, like tetanus. Her father and uncle still bore the scares of smallpox until they died. She is naturally immune to TB, having been surrounded by it as a child. As a family, we are hugely pro vaccine.

My dc 13 are having their second dose today (USA).
It means we will be fully vaccinated as a family.
It is a layer of protection I would like my dc to have.

Ds is 12 at the end of the year. He spent the whole of last year shielding so the vaccine can’t come soon enough to protect him.

As no vaccine is 100% effective I am pleased that his cousin who is over 12 is happy to have it and I hope many of his peers at school do to to provide even further protection for everyone who is vulnerable.

@Vintagevixen

I will not be vaccinating my 13 year old.

I've had the vaccine, benefits outweigh risks for me in my 50's.

For a 13 year old it's the other way - risks outweigh benefits. The risks of Covid are minuscule for DD but I do remember the swine flu vaccine causing narcolepsy in children.

This is my situation exactly. I have really thought about it and i just can't contemplate the risk however small , we were told our vaccines were safe at the onset but now we are aware of reactions some fatal -i know these are rare but not prepared to take a chance . May re consider in the future .

@jumpbounce - Meningitis is far deadlier to healthy kids than Covid is, so the first vaccine is acceptable to me as vaccine benefits far outstrip the risks. That isn’t the case for Covid.

I do think for otherwise healthy kids it’s a much harder decision, but I do think the long term problems of long covid which seem to be a real issue for a lot of younger people who have had covid

Yes my Dc will have theirs when they are called.

They understand the importance of not just protecting themselves but to help to protect those who can't have a vaccine.

DD is under that age so wouldn't need to think about it, but I'm surprised to say I wouldn't give it to DD...

I'm very very very pro-vaccine, but I think for something like covid (as it stands anyway) that the possible side effects of the vaccine outweigh how covid would affect healthy DD!

My 17yo gladly had his, despite refusing all his teenage vaccines. (autistic and seeing the pandemic played out has made covid tangible to him in a way that other viruses that he's never seen the effects of aren't)

I would allow my more severely autistic 15 yo to have it but I doubt he would allow anyone anywhere near him with a needle.

@LimeAndLemons

Our DS is 13. DH and I have had both jabs but I'm just wary about allowing DS to have it, I'm not sure enough info exists about any longer term side effects.

We are in the exact same situation.

DS13 has said he wants it if they offer it to his age group, I guess I can't really tell him no because we've both had it (we had AZ) and I can't really articulate why him having it makes me uneasy......