JCVI expected to extend vaccine to 16 and 17 year olds.

[MareofBeasttown]

Good news. As some of us predicted, the JCVI has changed its mind.
This is behind a paywall, but I read the whole article on Twitter ( which I can't seem to paste here).

Anyway, the headline is self-explanatory.
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/08/03/mass-vaccination-children-against-covid-planned/

@Piggywaspushed

Pipe up about what?

Hope your kids recover quickly! That should at least give them strong immunity against catching it again. Especially if they will also have their vaccine.

@SoOvethis
I completely agree. I said pretty much the same thing yesterday on here. DS1 is 16 and has already had Covid (as have me and DH). His 10 year old brother never got it. He is actually the one I’m more concerned about getting it. I don’t see why it’s necessary to give him a Covid jab when he has already had Covid. He had covid mildly but has some long covid effects (exhaustion and aching bones) so I’m reluctant to do anything that’s going to make that worse.
I’ve had my vaccines but tbh I only had them because I knew you would need them to access things…I actually never thought we’d get to a point where healthy 16 year old are being advised to take an vaccine for an illness which for most won’t effect them too much.
I’m not anti vaccine at all. In fact I paid privately for younger DS to have the Chicken pox vaccine as it’s not routinely given here but this just seems wrong somehow especially as DS1 has already had covid.

And other vaccine programmes vaccinate those who aren't at particular risk : children get the flu jab.

Young children are one of the higher risk groups for flu complications.

What, year 6 age?

Like many people on here say about covid to minimise it, I have never know a 10 year old get seriously ill from flu. It's rare.

I'm trying to decide if I think it's merely slightly or actually very deeply unethical to offer vacc to healthy 16-17yr olds & boosters to priority groups 7-9, when so many people in so many countries can't even get one jab. This debate is raging in USA, but I hear nothing about it in UK.

if you're worried about vaccine-escape variants, or preventing human deaths -- low income countries need these jabs hugely more than UK does.

The decision does rest on risk v benefit to group still doesn’t it?

The extra month or so was to build higher confidence

Has the benefit to group part changed? I missed press conference

Are the people who don't want their kids vaccinated the same posters who aren't bothered about covid circulating around school out of interest? We are only talking about 16 and 17 year olds here atm, so exam years. A bout of covid during GCSEs or A Levels is not a welcome visitor.

No, under 5s. It’s available from age 2 iirc. Yeah, risk to 5-14 yr olds is very low.

From the Evening Standard

Sixteen-year-olds will be offered a first coronavirus jab in the coming weeks and will not need the consent of their parents to get a vaccine.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has advised that the rollout should be extended to include 16 and 17-year-olds after reviewing the latest data.

Ministers have accepted the recommendation and the NHS is making preparations to start giving first doses to around 1.4 million children.

@Piggywaspushed

No I wasn’t remotely bothered about Covid circulating in schools. DS didn’t actually get it from school at all. I’m reluctant for him to have the vaccine as he has already had Covid.

@lljkk

I'm trying to decide if I think it's merely slightly or actually very deeply unethical to offer vacc to healthy 16-17yr olds & boosters to priority groups 7-9, when so many people in so many countries can't even get one jab. This debate is raging in USA, but I hear nothing about it in UK.

if you're worried about vaccine-escape variants, or preventing human deaths -- low income countries need these jabs hugely more than UK does.

Definitely worth discussing but it's a hugely complex subject and probably deserves its own thread. By the way, India is rolling out vaccines to the under 18s in August.

Good, sense has prevailed. Hopefully it will be extended to younger cohort.

@Piggywaspushed

For me I am anticipating it being offered in the 12 plus group and that’s where it would affect us as a family.

I am all for everyone having a choice. If that’s what you and your child wants to do then that’s up to you as a family. If we choose differently then that’s up to us! The adults in our family are vaccinated so we are doing our part.

My concern is that they are going to make having a vaccine a condition upon living a normal life for those under 18!
They are about to do that in France from the end of September. They are basically making the vaccine mandatory in all but words when they are saying if you haven’t had the vaccine or get a test every 48 hrs you can’t meet with your friend and go to the cinema, a cafe, a restaurant, indoor swimming, shopping malls etc.

I think Italy doing the same although I don’t know why the cut off age limit is there. Same with NY!

And just when you thought parenting your teenager was hard - the opportunity for vaccine conflict (either way).

Hard enough. Missed out enough.

I think it's great news.
Decisions on who to vaccinate depends on

• priority
• availability of vaccine
• risk of covid / complications v risk of vaccine - this one in particular changes all the time as data for vaccinating the age group becomes available && level of virus in country changes

A PP talked of small 6th forms and small classes. Might be true in their area, but here in Hants we have giant 6th form colleges, one local to me has 2000 in each year group. My DD is due to start college in Sept, I'll be looking to get her to book as soon as it is opened up.

Vaccination is already compulsory in plenty of countries for all sorts of things. You CANT go to school in Italy if you dont have the usual round of vaccines. In plenty of jobs you don’t work if you don’t have hepatitis or other vaccinations (my
Mum was a science teacher and she had to do tetanus boosters every so many years). None of the vaccines was born “old”. They were all new at some point. We all took them as we knew our freedom must be balanced with duties to society.

@MrsSkylerWhite

Good, sense has prevailed. Hopefully it will be extended to younger cohort.

Surely only if the data supports it?

@MrsSkylerWhite

Good, sense has prevailed. Hopefully it will be extended to younger cohort.

Not so much good sense but higher confidence in data.

Going back to op it’s also not changing mind but reviewing new data

Listening to JCVI person speak it was useful to hear what has happened

We all took them as we knew our freedom must be balanced with duties to society.

No, we took them because they primarily protected us against certain illnesses.

Whats the point of vaccinating 16/17's when the vast majority of at risk are vaccinated and therefore not going to end up in hospital? young aren't at risk of serious illness... and it still leaves everyone from 15yo downwards able to catch CV?

Surely, as the WHO has said, the need to vaccinate the RoW ?

this seems to be down to political pressure rather than need.

@cherin

Which of the diseases or illnesses that the children are protected from with those vaccines are always mild?

Obviously we know measles, mumps, polio, hepatitis, meningitis can cause some quite severe long term symptoms in children.

Let’s take measles as an example
I just looked Up online that 1 in 4 with measles will end up hospitalised and 1-2 in 1000 will die. Little bit different to children infected with Covid no?

Mumps - obviously better to have had it as a kid because if you are a young (especially male adult) then
Previously published complication rates for mumps suggest that orchitis is the most common complication in 15%–30% of adult men with mumps (21–24). Mumps meningitis has been reported in 1%–10%, mumps pancreatitis in 4%, and mumps oophoritis in 5% of persons with mumps (3,25,26).

Again not quite the same with Covid is it?

So tell me a disease that has similar low risk to children? Not flu as up until now only primary age kids have been given it and actually there are a reasonable amount of children who end up in hospital with chest infections, bronchitis, asthma attacks from flu.

One of my children has asthma and I have spoken to 2 specialists who have said he is not at any higher risk of getting complications from Covid because of it.

When he has Covid, he had a temperature and a headache. Nothing on his chest.

Stalling vaccine coverage in LMICs.

When DS was at Primary School only vulnerable children (from a health perspective) had the flu jab (nasal spray). Now all Primary school children are offered it, so I assume that is partly society benefit driven rather than just from the child’s health position. And this year they are offering it to all Secondary School children, although interestingly not the 16-17 year olds.

Someone up thread said offering COVID jabs to 16-17 year olds was to help GCSE year groups, but that won’t help some summer borns. I was 15 when I sat my O-levels and had only just celebrated my 16th birthday when I got my results.

Someone up thread said offering COVID jabs to 16-17 year olds was to help GCSE year groups, but that won’t help some summer borns. I was 15 when I sat my O-levels and had only just celebrated my 16th birthday when I got my results.

Having the older y11s vaccinated still helps stop the spread within the year group.