Why aren’t schools giving the vaccine?

[bsquared]

Schools are really efficient at giving the vaccine to school-age children and have been doing it this way for decades.

Why is the distribution of the coronavirus different?

I think I know where your coming from @Peteycat a 12yo may not have had a needle since they were 3 or 4, the flu vac is given nasally very different (especially from a child's pov) to a needle. Some dc may take it in their stride and not be bothered at all, others might like the reassurance and comfort from a parent

Why are you so bothered that I said that? Am I wrong? Will that happen if they decide to vaccinate in schools?

others might like the reassurance and comfort from a parent

They don't seem to need it for the HPV jab?

I assume we are mainly talking about Secondary School children as they will be the next group offered, if indeed they are offered. There are other vaccination programmes in Secondary School, that do involve needles, so there will be strangers going towards them with needles, so do you feel the same about that?

I wonder if Secondary School pupils will have the flu jab or the nasal spray, as they are included in the programme as well as Primary Schools this year

I didn't have to wait 15 mins after either of mine.

Pfizer (DS and DD) 15 mins required. AZ (DH and me) - not, though I was asked if I had driven to the centre, in which case they would have recommended a short wait.

Thank you bywelltjebloodyhell. I'm just astonished that these things are just not talked about.

Alot of children are quite anxious at the moment because of the situation we are in and we must do things properly for them.

I was AZ and waited!

Ineedaholidaynow, I was mainly talking about primary school children, but even year 7s are still only 12. So yes, I stand by what I'm saying.

I understand that secondary school children have vaccines /needles already but this is totally different.

Noble giraffe, as I have said I'm mainly talking about primary school children in that context.

Petey, my children had needle vaccinations in secondary. It never occurred to the NHS, me or the school that parents might want to come and support them!

But primary school children aren't on the radar for vaccine!

I had AZ and had to wait 15 minutes both times before being allowed to drive but was told I could wait in the centre or in my car if I wanted first time (vaccine supercentre), and had to wait in my car the second as there was no supervised waiting area (portakabin)

DH had Pfizer and had to wait 15 minutes supervised each time as he had allergies.

I assume if Primary School children get offered the vaccine then I assume they probably will offer it at GPs, or parents come into the school to be with their child when it is done, if the school is chosen as a vaccination centre. But as far as I am aware none of the vaccines are currently licensed for under 12s, so most people on here are talking about Secondary School age children.

I am now really, really puzzled, Petey - there is no suggestion at all that primary children - even the CEV - have Covid vaccinations.

Secondary school children have needle vaccinations in school already. Can you clarify exactly what you are objecting to / worried about??

Sorry to cause confusion about waiting times! As I said, I didn’t drive so didn’t need to wait for AZ. However, children would be Pfizer or Moderna, both of which have 15 minute waiting times for all.

Schools would be my preferred distribution model for vaccination of school-age children.

That above is from the op. She has said school age children. Then someone else mentioned them. Does that help you?

Schools don’t vaccinate children, school health services do. Schools just facilitate the large scale vaccination programmes as it logistically makes sense to do it this way for school aged children.

School nurse immunisation teams already deliver the vaccination programme for Y8 HPV vaccination, Y9 DTP/MenACWY boosters, and the nasal flu vaccine which this year will be offered to all children in all school years. So they’re going to be even busier. It makes no sense to add in a Covid vaccine clinic when there are multiple clinics already set up to deliver Covid vaccine. And the logistics of delivering large scale Covid vaccinations is more complex than other vaccines.

There are already many opportunities for young people to be vaccinated during the school holidays, after school hours, at weekends. I don’t see any need for school immunisation programmes for Covid.

And obviously the idea is vulnerable children aged 12-15, and eligible 16 and 17 year olds have the vaccine before returning to school and college. So why wait?

News reports of slow take up are just inflammatory, we’ve only been allowed to give it to 16 and 17 year olds for less than a week! We did a walk in clinic on Saturday and it was well attended. Those that want it will get it, those that don’t won’t whether you offer it at school/college or in a centre.

And it’s only Pfizer vaccine that has a mandatory 15 minute wait afterwards, Moderna and AZ don’t, nor any other routine immunisations.

The original op stated school age children.

I had to wait 15 mons as I was driving. Dh wasn't driving so had to wait 10 mins.

I wouldn't be surprised if, once schools are back, some start becoming pop up centres. But for the moment it was easier for our GP to use the town hall where they had been already been vaccinating adults.

But the only school age children currently being offered the vaccine are 16-17yo, why would we be talking about 4yo in Primary School?

Why would schools become pop up centres? Their education has been disrupted enough.

No one thinks the school orders in vaccines or stores them in cupboards, but different vaccines have different storage requirements -- that's why when they were doing drive-up vaccines last year for HPV, they weren't doing the same with other teenage jabs in most areas, they couldn't set up the storage needs for them in car parks, so they were delayed and done either at schools or - for those in need of a catch-up jab like my DS - were done in hospitals as they no longer do them at GPs in many areas.

I'm unsure there is going to space for those freezers when schools are running summer schools and prepping their gyms for LFT testing.

Because the original poster said school age children, which last time I checked was from 4 years onwards.

@Peteycat

The original op stated school age children.

Thank you for clarifying that you were using a straw man for argument.

I presume that you agree that if we are talking about ‘school age children for whom vaccines have been approved’ - ie 12+ - then parental comforting is not currently a major factor in planning?

Others have too. I've explained my point. Next question.