TBH i do think there are a hell of a lot of people who are so wedded to the idea that vaccines are a miracle beyond question that they won't stop to think.
I am not anti-vax. Quite the opposite. I think vaccines are brilliant but should be used appropriately like any other medicine.
The problem is after being conditioned about the importance and value of vaccines to adults its hard to get your head around the idea of different risk profiles for children.
And risk - both on a population and individual level - is something that the vast majority of people (even educated ones) struggle to get their heads around full stop without the emotive stuff floating around.
Even if there was compelling data on there being risks I don't think some would want to listen to that as an argument because 'won't someone think of the children'.
At the moment we are simply not seeing enough to reasonably make a water tight case for vaccines. Its marginal - at best - and thats why there is a fundamental problem here and those who want it, just aren't going to be satisfied whatever simply because the MHRA say its safe. Without putting this into context of what safe means or what the ramifications would be for a number of deaths resulting from a child death or serious side effects from a vaccine - in the absence of a substantial benefit from vaccines.
The indirect consequences of this could have a huge impact on public health in the long run which would be far more damaging and cost more lives in non-covid related areas.
It is not a zero sum game to give vaccines to children even under the MHRA approval as safe.
We need trust in vaccines to be as high as possible across the board. Children will die in far greater numbers from other illnesses if we lose that public trust.
Thats where I come from. A place thinking about the health of children in relation to vaccines but from a different angle. I worry about the risk of things like measles far more than covid, because thats the reality of a world without vaccines and public trust in vaccines is absoluetely crucial in that equation.
It would only take a handful of cases in the press to trigger it. And the converse is not true in a 'do nothing' scenario. Not at this point (where we could only have started vaccinating most children now based on their risk profile). There's already been enough exposure.
This might change if we see the emergence of a new variant - but this would be picked up pretty damned quick if this were to arise and the JVCI probably think this likelihood is small at this stage in the panademic cycle.... (especially as many children will have some level of immunity through exposure anyway).