Offered vaccine for my 13 YO

[Aduckandachick]

She is booked in fir next week but it’s come sooner than I expected (she has SEN but isn’t what I’d deem to be vulnerable.) Not sure why I’m feeling a bit uncertain about it - I’m double jabbed and will take her to get it.
Has anyone else taken their young teen for their vaccination?

All 4 of mine 12 - 16 have had them now. We are in France. No reactions at all. Been great really.

@lannistunut

It is awful the UK won't vaccinate children, our children have been so let down.

The only country with high rates, no mitigations in schools AND no vaccines

Obviously worst in England, our kids are so let down.

Its really worrying. Winder if we see big difference between infection and hospital admissions between 10 to 18 in roi and ni . If I could go away and get my 15 year old vaccinated I would. Shes also asthmatic. She has brown and blue inhalers and not been offered.

there is absolutely no way my children will be having the vaccine
No one has ever said they need to be so not sure who you're arguing with? It is a choice, something you can turn down if offered, and I don't see the point in scaremongering about being "forced into it", when at risk kids are still struggling to get appointments.

It's Easy to see why some might be offensive on this as precedent has been set with the adult vaccinations. They're also not mandatory and choice but we've seen the many threads on here calling the unvaccinated selfish, people shunning unvax friends or family, and life made harder for them in terms of travel and in other countries just to even enter a restaurant. Its hard not to worry that those situations won't filter down to our teens eventually, and in that case we are subliminally socially forced into it to be able to enjoy life.

COVID-19 vaccine has been nearly 20 years in the making/ hardly new!!

www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2021/01/21/fact-check-covid-19-vaccine-nearly-20-years-making/3873247001/

There's no way in hell I'd be taking my dd for the vaccine having seen what it's doing to people's menstrual cycles.

She's gillick competent so if she wants it she can but I wouldn't encourage it.

In my EU town 88% of 12-17 year olds are vaccinated. Teenagers want to have a normal school experience and are in general keen to have the vaccine. I have not heard of any issue.

My niece and nephew (15 and 13) live abroad and both had it a while ago. No side effects at all.

It's Easy to see why some might be offensive on this as precedent has been set with the adult vaccinations. They're also not mandatory and choice but we've seen the many threads on here calling the unvaccinated selfish, people shunning unvax friends or family, and life made harder for them in terms of travel and in other countries just to even enter a restaurant. Its hard not to worry that those situations won't filter down to our teens eventually, and in that case we are subliminally socially forced into it to be able to enjoy life.

Right so you're arguing against offering children the vaccine due to a hypothetical scenario that does not exist? I'd rather my children have this option rather than a blanket no just in case someone feels "shunned".

Regarding the current situation of adults & vaccinations - anti-vaccine posters like to say they're being shunned, discriminated against etc etc when in reality this is not the case.

Like Loco, I did think about getting my dc vaccinated in my own country, since they started offering to the people living abroad. But it's very much unlikely, since it's really far and expensive, so just get there to get vaccinated while travelling on airplane for hours and going through airport etc is counter productive. But if it was in Europe, I would definitely have.
I really hope they start give the children who wants vaccine the choice soon in UK.

Not goady but do you actually understand how viral infections and vaccines work? I think, until you grasp the mechanics of it and can see how the experts come to the conclusion that there are no foreseeable long term effects then it really is difficult to me ake your own decisions. mRNA vaccines are really just a different delivery mechanism so I'm not sure what long term effects you are concerned about

@Saltedcaramel78 I'm not arguing anything just pointing out that the argument for or against vax in adults has at times been toxic as the million threads on here prove, I'd hate for that to filter down to our children. I dont really care if vaccines are offered or not and don't care what choices make either way. And as for saying its a hypothetical situation in terms of vaccine status in teens and their freedoms we only need to look at some EU countries and US states to see that it is something that has the potential to become reality here in the UK. I'm sure it was a hypothetical situation once there too.

Oh and final point my opinion FWIW and yours for that matter has absolutely no bearing on the decisions made by JCVI or the government, if they have decided not to offer it at this time its not because a random MN poster has concerns

Regarding the current situation of adults & vaccinations - anti-vaccine posters like to say they're being shunned, discriminated against etc etc when in reality this is not the case.
Tbh I've seen more posts from vax people saying they want to cut ties with un vax friends or family than un vax saying they've been shunned themselves

In Ireland and have registered 12yo DS for vaccine without hesitation. Awaiting appointment.

Good news is, that FDA is likely to give Pfizer vaccine full approval on Monday.
www.nytimes.com/2021/08/20/us/politics/fda-pfizer-covid-vaccine-full-approval.html

If Ireland are currently doing 12-15 year olds, why aren't UK?

@Oblomov21

If Ireland are currently doing 12-15 year olds, why aren't UK?

It is odd, Irelands rationale is the same as the rest of Europe - vaccines are safe in children, lots of evidence to show safety, whilst serious complications are rare, they do occur, and we don't know the impact of long term effects of COVID.

*

www2.hse.ie/screening-and-vaccinations/covid-19-vaccine/get-the-vaccine/deciding-on-vaccination-for-12-to-15-year-olds/

COVID-19 and children aged 12 to 15
Most children aged 12 to 15 who get COVID-19 have very mild symptoms or no symptoms.

But children who get COVID-19 need to isolate from other people even if their symptoms are mild. This is to stop the spread of the virus. They need to stay at home for at least 10 days from when they develop symptoms or test positive.

Serious illness is rare
It is rare that COVID-19 causes serious illness, hospitalisation or death in children.

The risk of a child being hospitalised because of COVID-19 is low, and the risk of any child needing intensive care treatment is extremely low.

Data from the United States shows that around 7 in 10 children admitted to hospital have an existing underlying condition.

In extremely rare cases COVID-19 can cause a condition called multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C).

MIS-C is also known as paediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome (PIMS). It causes pneumonia, inflammation of the heart and difficulty breathing. It can cause death.

We don’t know yet if there is a risk of long-lasting side effects from COVID-19 in children. This is sometimes called 'long COVID'.

Evidence shows vaccines are safe

The vaccines being offered to children in Ireland aged 12 to 15 are the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines.

Both vaccines are approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) as safe and effective. They are recommended in Ireland by the National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC).

Thousands of people worldwide have been vaccinated as part of clinical trials.

This includes:

more than 2,000 children aged 12 to 15 for the Pfizer clinical trial
3,700 children aged 12 to 17 for the Moderna clinical trial
No new safety concerns were reported in children aged 12 to 15 after these trials.

doh realise this is confusing

It is odd, Irelands rationale is the same as the rest of Europe - vaccines are safe in children, lots of evidence to show safety, whilst serious complications of infection are rare, they do occur, and we don't know the impact of long term effects of COVID.

Ireland is now ahead of the UK in adult vaccination and I am very glad they are offering vaccines to childen now, it should greatly decrease the chance of school disruptions going into the new term. Like all the other fully tested and approved vaccines used in children, these vaccines are safe and highly beneficial to both the child and the population in general.

Neither DH not I had any significant reaction to our vaccines (one Moderna, one Pfizer) so I don't really expect DS to have any...

@Blackbird2020

Do any of you question the possible longer term, yet unknown effects of the vaccine on developing children?

I can see that there are no issues with the short term side effects but there’s no safety data for the long term yet. That does worry me, especially regarding the new mRNA vaccines.

I don't because the scientists have done it for me.

Mrna vaccines are hardly new! They have been researched and developed for over 20 years!! by scientists ...

www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2021/01/21/fact-check-covid-19-vaccine-nearly-20-years-making/3873247001/

I am not anti-vax, and have trust in our scientific institutions and their research.

My point is that there is no actual long-term ‘real world’ data on these newly approved vaccines (particularly the mRNA ones). I am happy to get vaccinated - the short-term side effects are negligible and I’m too old to care as much about any yet unknown long-term side effects, however I do feel slightly uncomfortable with the decision for my DC.

I take onboard the point about the possible unknown long-term side effects of corona on children too... I just feel like I don’t know which way to go on this yet. Which is possibly how many other people might feel.

An open non-judgemental dialogue is something that would greatly help the discussion and decision-making that we parents will all face in the future regarding this vaccine, though I fear that, like many issues around parenting, this topic could descend into 2 polarised camps, both claiming the other to be wrong/ignorant etc. I can only hope to be proved wrong.

Thanks for the link @Lico. I’ll have a read.

I’m in Ireland with a DS13. He does not want to be vaccinated and that’s his choice. Turns out we’re all currently down with Covid in the house anyway except for DS11 who had it back in October and looks like he’s still immune.

DS13 has a bit of a cough and his taste is a bit off but otherwise fine. When DS11 had it he had zero symptoms.

Myself and DH, both double vaccinated were floored with it.

I am happy my children will now have both
developed their own natural response to it rather than getting a vaccine that managed to mess up my menstrual cycle for months.

It is a really tough call to make on the vaccine. While scientists, doctors etc can say it’s safe the fact is we do not know the long term effects. No one can for sure.

Plenty of scientists out there on the other side of the argument saying we shouldn't be giving under 18s the jab. The trouble is wejust have no idea of the long term health effects these jabs could cause. They might be fine, but they might not be and theres the thing, we just have no idea. Anyone unsure, my advice is research, research, research and don't just believe what you see on the BBC.

@NoVaccinePassportsAnywhere

Plenty of scientists out there on the other side of the argument saying we shouldn't be giving under 18s the jab. The trouble is wejust have no idea of the long term health effects these jabs could cause. They might be fine, but they might not be and theres the thing, we just have no idea. Anyone unsure, my advice is research, research, research and don't just believe what you see on the BBC.

Who are these "plenty of scientists"? Mike Yeadon doesn't count.

Everything you are saying is also true of COVID infection, and whilst there is a huge amount of evidence demonstrating long term effects of viral infection in general, this is not seen for vaccines.

On a balance of benefits/risks, offering vaccination to 16-18 year olds, and 12-15 year olds makes sense, and I do find it strange posters think they can do research which surpasses that of the joint efforts of hundreds of scientists with decades of experience in field.