We need to vaccinate 12+

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… over the summer! If we want any sort of ‘normality’ in winter we need to get the 12+ age range vaccinated.

As the cases are rising amongst the young un-vaccinated I did think the government might use this period of time to vaccinate the young before schools open again.

Very confused by this free for all. Especially over the summer holidays.

I’ll still be wearing masks as fully vaxxed. I think they could have opened up but people wear masks.

The last sentence referred to sending home year groups of hundreds of pupils, most of whom are not close contacts, and telling them to self-isolate. That is what they have been told to stop doing. But they are still doing it.

I think the take up wouldn't be that high even if offered.
I would let my teens choose, and they might choose to have it, but there is understandable concern about vaccinating healthy, very low risk children.

The JCVI haven't made a decision yet have they?

It'll be curious if they make a different one to the US and Germany etc.

Whilst the risk of death is very, very small from Covid, it's not zero. It's probably small enough to make the vaccine unattractive BUT the risk is not just death is it? Under 18s are getting long Covid. Not as frequently as middle aged people but still enough to cause concern. If we can safely vaccinate to prevent that, why wouldn't we?

The fact that the under 18's are more at risk from the vaccine on an individual basis is precisely why the JCVI hasn't recommended a programme of vaccinating for that age group.

Oh, has JCVI made its recommendation? Can you share a link?

It'll be curious if they make a different one to the US and Germany etc.

I’m not sure… they’re already way out of step on issues like chicken pox.

JCVI haven’t decided yet have they?

Yes all children over 12 with disabilities, that have received cancer treatment, that need oxygen, that are diabetic etc. should receive the vaccine. It's simply not true that the risk of giving them the vaccine is greater than the risk of dying of Covid. In my mind, it would be a very cruel and uncaring decision not to vaccinate them before school starts in September. Just like it happened in the adult population, kids living with medical conditions are at high risk of dying of Covid and we have a duty to protect them.

Canada is a good example - although their rollout has been much slower than in the UK, they are now offering the vaccine to all children aged 12+ , first to protect vulnerable children and also to avoid local outbreaks in the future. And the trials have proved that the Pfizer vaccine is safe. I don't think Canada would vaccinate children if they thought it would kill them.

I wish we could follow many other countries by vaccinating the 12 to 18yr olds now, so that as many as possible will have had second jab before returning to school in September.

I agree with you op. Even from an economic point of view it makes sense. If we have a really large wave go though children, that is an awful lot of parents not able to work.

Oh and yesterday two children aged between 10 and 18 have died after being diagnosed with Covid. That's two in one day.

Agree with you op

This is a really interesting and balanced article on the issues around vaccinating/not-vaccinating children. The author concludes with a suggestion for a mixed vaccination strategy (lower dose for healthy older kids, full dose for those with comorbidities), but he presents both sides and I think the article would be of interest to people whichever side of the fence they sit on.

I agree with a poster further up I don’t think the uptake will be as high as people think in the over 12’s.

Heard a lot of talk about this recently around the school gates and other gatherings etc from other parents and a majority where we live are a firm no on their child having it.

I am a no for my nearly 12 year old and thankfully they feel the same - and no I didn’t tell them I would rather they didn’t I let them make the decision first and then said I agreed with them.

I think that clinically vulnerable 12-17 year olds should get the vaccine while the JCVI considers whether to offer it to healthy 12-17 year olds. It would be ideal for 12-17 year olds to get their first dose during the summer holidays before the return to school.
With new isolation rules for under 18s, I worry about my teen catching Covid- not because he's going to die but because he will be in year 11 this autumn and needs uninterrupted schooling for his exams.

Well I work in a secondary school and loads pf parents are asking for it especially for those taking GCSEs and A levels. If you go to a school gate you are probably parent to primary school DCs. Loads of parents in secondary schools (and the teenagers themselves) are hugely keen on having the vaccine.

@ColettesEarrings

It's not that the vaccine is 100% safe or 100% dangerous, but that the balance of risk profiles between children 12-18 and current state of wider society risk is not favourable enough. Yet. It's all about a sliding scale on wide, group, basis. We are phenomenally bad at communicating and understanding risk in a dispassionate manner in this country, and ad human nature anyway.

My 15yo is actually quite keen to have the vaccine and if it's offered I won't stop him. But that doesn't change the fact that at present the overall situation is such that JCVI don't feel it should be offered.

No, JCVI haven't decided against it, they just have postponed making the decision, which is different.

I think the uptake would be quite high. And these polls support this.

www.theguardian.com/society/2021/jul/01/not-enough-evidence-to-back-covid-jabs-for-children-says-uk-expert

www.itv.com/news/2021-07-03/half-of-parents-would-get-their-children-vaccinated-against-coronavirus--survey

And my dd is at the end of year 10. She’s missed so much time and is so stressed and anxious about it. Year 11 next year, and she’s worried.

She’d be at the front of the queue tbh.

I think we need to make sure vulnerable adults in the rest of the world have access to the vaccine now. This should have happened months ago imo

This is a tricky one ethically though.

First off the US does do the over 12s there is some push back with the CDC (particularly with a 13 year old dying after the vaccine) but the CDC still believe it is worth the risk - but it is important to remember that the US has far lower uptake than us in the higher age ranges and far more supply so that decision makes sense.

Personally the over 12 CEV for me should be prioritised now and vaccinated. Then it is for me a tricky choice and one that we do need to balance the risks of COVID against the risks of vaccination (particularly for young boys/men) and take it from there.

Which I suspect is what the JCVI (an independent body made up of Scientists) is doing. For now given the supply with have I can see why. Then it becomes a balance between boosters/children/rest of the world

and @QwertyGirly where do you get 2 under 18s from. The NHS England data shows 3 under 18s in the past month

I’d rather know the level of antibodies in under 18s before we start giving them vaccines that they may not even need.

I suppose the worry is that once some children have been given it, parents will start clamouring for differences to be made between vaccinated and unvaccinated children - just as has happened with adults.

It's a bit late now sadly. With infections predicted to be 100,000-200,000 a day soon, most unvaccinated will have had covid by September including children.

It's terrifying for those who can't make a good immune response to the vaccine.

What harm would masks be for a few more months?

I strongly suspect other motives at play. The government want people to catch and spread this as this gives a booster immunity to the population. I also suspect they feel this is strongly needed before a crippling flu epidemic that's also predicted this winter.

It's probably the best of the bad options they have to chose from.

If you are genuinely worried about variants you should be pushing for vaccines to be donated to Africa and South America instead of being used on children. Over there the virus is running rampant with very little control measures in place. The next scary variant will come from there.

However, as we do 50% of the world's genome sequencing, I expect we'll detect it first and then get the blame

@WhenZoomWasJustAnIceLolly

I know children with long covid and the impact is huge. I will be much happier when children are vaccinated but I fear that if 12+ are vaccinated the virus will mutate to spread among the younger ones as it looks for a host.

It’s already within the lower age group?

Pointless - they’ll all have had it by the time the second dose has kicked in!