If you have young adult children, what are they thinking about the vaccine?

[VanCleefArpels]

Just reading that uptake among the young is flattening and so wondering what your young adults and friends are thinking about taking the vaccine? Mine are early twenties and have both had a first jab and desperate to get the second. Both will go to a walk up as soon as possible. On the whole their friends have the same attitude so I’m wondering if they are unusual given the stats?

I am 25 and I do not want to have any of the Covid vaccines. The development/worsening of migraines (I already have bad ones so don’t want them worsening), my previous allergic reactions to other vaccines and meds, disruption to the menstrual cycle and so on have swayed me to at least wait a year or so to see the long term effects. I also know of a healthy woman in her mid 30s who died after developing a blood clot. That’s scared the shit out of me. I can understand why those who are clinically vulnerable would want the vaccine (supposedly lessens the effects if they catch Covid) but it’s not worth it for me. I need to think about my health.

@Alannawhorideslikeaman

By its nature it would flatten, surely? They release it to the 18-25yr olds so a big rush to get it and then it's only those turning 18 getting it when they have their birthday - same as every other she group has flattened after the initial rush. I believe take up was very good for their age group when first released. I think vaccine passports and easier travel restrictions etc will convince a lot of youth

Yes, agree - every time it flattened before / capacity opened up they went down to the next age range. It’s just now there is no lower age range. I don’t think vaccination rates are actually too bad in that age range (first doses only of course). It was almost inevitable that the younger cohort would be scapegoats for rising infection rates.. such a lot of publicity about how worried the government was about uptake before the vaccine was even available to anyone under 40….!

DS ( 24) had his as soon as it was available to him. 2nd one booked but hopefully will get it sooner at a walk-in now he can have it at 8 weeks. All nieces/nephews of similar age have had theirs too.

Mine are 18 and 20 and had it earlier than their age group because they were carers for DH. They never hesitated, although it has to be said, I'm not sure they'd have actually got around to it if I hadn't booked it for them.

Among their friends lots have had it, but there seems to be quite a few with severe needle anxiety avoiding it for that reason. I haven't heard of any not having it for antivax reasons, but as many work in jobs with no sick pay, there are quite a few avoiding it for fear of needing time off with side effects, which they've heard hit the young hardest.

I think they'll be keen if it starts restricting where they can go because of passports though.

Source for my original comment (final few paras)

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/nightclubs-reject-plan-to-check-vaccine-passports-km9b6vsw7?shareToken=9c77068bd6f3fad669cdc8eed0ac6c80

I do worry that if vaccination status is not going to be used as a way to participate in festivals/gigs etc then the young will wonder why they need to bother. Although heartening to read that others here have been keen!

my oldest has already had 1st Pfizer.

DS2 is thinking about it

Dd is 18, she had hers as soon as possible so about 4 weeks ago. All of her friends have had theirs too, one turned 18 last week, had her jab the day before her birthday. They’re all keen to be able to fit their second in before going off to uni. Admittedly they’ve finished A levels and have loads of free time so any random time in any random place has been fine for them, they haven’t waited for closer to home or better time appointment slots to be released.

My 20 yr old in another country has had one and is shortly to take her second. And it is AZ, mind you.

My neighbour’s kids have both said they don’t want it. They are probably aged 15 & 20. Their mum is baffled, their reasons sound like all the adverse propaganda you hear about (it hasn’t been tested enough; there’s tracking information in it).
My kids have both been double jabbed.

I'm 28 and neither myself or any of my friends have had the vaccine

My 16yr old DS would really like to be vaccinated.
He likes the idea of protection for himself, his family and the community.
He would also like it to minimise further disruption to his education.

My needle phobic almost 20 year old has had his first jab and second is booked. I think most of his friends have had theirs too.

DS had no side effects other than a sore arm for a couple of days.

My 24 year son booked his as soon as he could, and has brought his second dose forward to eight weeks.
Apparently takeup has been more disappointing in the 30+ age group, though they're catching stragglers from all the older age groups so hopefully they catch up.

I’m very early 20s and have my second dose on Friday. I’d say 9 out of 10 friends and relatives my age have jumped at the opportunity. I know of a few people who didn’t get it - one for religious reasons, the other due to family history of adverse reactions and wanting to discuss with her doctor back home first, and a couple of them because they did not feel it was less of a risk than getting COVID.

Where I live universities and colleges organised their own ‘rollouts’, so it was extremely simple to book an appointment and show up to campus one morning to have it. I got it through work, and many other students have jobs in retail/supermarket, and they were also offered it earlier (staff working in shops were considered priority group 3).

My 20yo has had both jabs. Was very keen to get them.

The children of Mumsnetters are a very unrepresentative sample! Go into areas of deprivation in large cities and I suspect you'll struggle to find anyone under the age of 30 who has bothered to seek out a vaccine.

Dd is 19 and has had the first. Second next month but I’d prefer she had it sooner. She’s had Covid already so she may have reasonable antibodies already.
Older teen son (not quite adult) is happy to wait until he’s called. He’s had to isolate the most cos still at school - at least that’ll be binned off next month.

DS 19 is had his 2 vaccines
DD 21 is waiting for her second

When DD tried to book via her universitiy all appointments were gone in no time. So she went to her GP.

@Marianicka

The children of Mumsnetters are a very unrepresentative sample! Go into areas of deprivation in large cities and I suspect you'll struggle to find anyone under the age of 30 who has bothered to seek out a vaccine.

You're right, of course. And the divide - socio-economic, educational level or whatever it's due to - is concerning.

My sister (early twenties) isn't having one because she's sure that if she gets covid it'll be mild, so she doesn't care about catching it. She has also been working in a customer-facing job throughout the pandemic, and was originally forbidden by her employer to wear a mask. She concludes that either she must have had it asymptomatically, or it isn't as contagious as people fear.

I and the other older members of the family have all been vaccinated.

My son is almost 18 and says he’ll probably have it when offered. Out of my friends adult kids, about half have had it and half decided not to.

D1 (23) is fully vaccinated. He was in one of the priority groups. His partner (24) is partially vaccinated, looking forward to her second so that she can go and visit elderly relatives.

Ds1 (19) has had his first jab. He's off to university this autumn and wants as full an experience as possible (including team sports as well as socialising).

Agree with you Marianika. Also the mumsnetters who hang out in the coronavirus section are an even more skewed sample.

All my children in their 20s have all had both vaccines…they really want their world back like everyone else !

The DNs and their friends had them as soon as they could. They are at or just left university though, so:

1. More educated sample set
2. Had friends poorly with covid at uni, so don't buy into the "it's mild" stories, they just don't want to catch it.

Higher infection levels among young people will lead to more people who think they can rely on natural immunity (at least for a while) and some will need to wait a month post covid infection. There is clearly some lower uptake, especially in more deprived communities. Some of that will be education levels, but is about people following what their peers do rather than only about ability to understand scientific research rather than misinformation. Hopefully over time it will slowly increase.