No vaccines for healthy 12-15 Yr olds

[Wellbythebloodyhell]

news.sky.com/story/covid-19-vaccines-will-not-be-recommended-for-healthy-children-aged-12-to-15-government-advisers-say-12398444

Is anyone else glad this potential decision has been taken away? I was very much undecided about vaccinating my older dc and now feel a bit of a weight has been lifted now its not something I need to consider.

The plan is for the rest of 12-15 year olds to be jabbed in schools so I don't think GPs will be coining it in.

Where I live the 16+ vaccine is only given at walk in centres and I would not know if they get any incentive- but definitely don’t go around the school gate and grab teens ;-) I don’t know what the point is? Do you think a Gp practice has a financial incentive to vaccinate kids for 10£ a head? Would that not just cover a fraction of the extra hassle it takes to get the message out-book them in- register-wait afterwards….fitting all this within the daily work of a practice?

Apparently doctors are advising against intense sport after the vaccine.

In my native country, doctors advise against intense sports after any vaccination, not just covid vaccine. It makes sense since you are putting your body under pressure, doesn't it?

@Mumpud

The JCVI have refused to back the jab for this age group. Surely they have had all the latest stats, facts and figures etc not available to most of us. So I can't understand why people still want their children to have the jab? Serious question. What happened to 'following the science'? Surely the JCVI know more than the average parent? Personally I think health has to come before anything, even disruption to school.

Exactly! They are independent too so this is based on risk profile . It amazes me that suddenly people think they know best

re the HPV vaccine, it can provide protection to men from penile cancer, anal cancer and throat cancer, so isn’t a vaccine which solely protects women. Rubella vaccination is the closest I can think of of a vaccination against something that is only a serious threat to the survival or development of an embryo/foetus pre-20 weeks gestation, not the person (usually a child) being given the vaccine.

@illuyankas,

Intense exercise lowers immunity, which is why serious athletes always come down with bugs.

Some of the sickest COVID people I know did a lot of sport at an intense level.

@bumbleymummy
“Apparently doctors are advising against intense sport after the vaccine.”

Great. Ds had had to avoid intense sport for 17 months now. Because 17 months ago he caught covid and he’s had heart issues since. 🤷🏻‍♀️

@MarshaBradyo
I think this was directed at me but apologies if not

Your situation is very concerning and not ignored though. Can I ask how old he is? You may have mentioned it.

He was 10 when he caught covid, so not an age group that people think is affected. He was also completely healthy, sporty, fit, no underlying conditions. The kind of kid that would be leaping around despite having a stomach bug, brushed most illness off really quickly. Which makes a complete nonsense of @AlecTrevelyan006 ‘s argument that we only vaccinate those who will be affected, becomes we ^don’t know* well enough who will be affected.

@Nerdygirl - “people”? “People” includes independent experts who have come to different conclusions. “People” have not suddenly decided they think best - or have you not noticed that “people” have been disagreeing with pretty much every decision made during this pandemic by any body whatsoever. There are not only extreme views, there are also infinite shades of grey.

I am on the fence at the moment on all of this. DH, myself and my young adult DS are vaccinated but I am undecided about my 14 year old DS due to the stats round myocarditis risk vs severe covid risk for his age group. I am also struggling to weigh up the arguments around disrupted schooling now that the rules for self isolation for close contacts has changed. I was under the impression that once you had caught a strain of covid then you developed immunity and therefore I had assumed we wouldn’t be in the position where a child was repeatedly self isolating for 10 days at a time over the course of the year? Have I got this wrong as if I have it would probably sway my decision.

On a related note many of the parents I know are of the view that if their child has no symptoms then they won’t test them - they are aware that this means that their asymptomatic child is spreading the virus but their view is that it is down to individuals to protect themselves with the vaccine. This is not MY view as I intend to comply with the weekly testing but I think we need to be aware that not everyone in the country is going to frame their approach to covid moving forward in a purely altruistic light/ for the greater good.

@Fedupwantchocolate - my children are now in exam years. Even one period of being off sick for 10 days and subsequent headaches and fatigue is an issue. Days off waiting for PCR test results would be an issue if cases surge and delays in testing happen. Multiple teachers being off sick and the class being stuck with cover supervisors who are not teachers and only there to control the class until the teacher’s return, is a massive issue. They need continuity of teaching, too, and that requires continuity of qualified, experienced teaching staff. The issues in Scottish schools at the moment are somewhat concerning if that is replicated here.

Have DC in this age group and have mixed feelings about this.
I do believe that vaccines should benefit those they are given to, i.e benefit to them outweighs risk to them.
I have 4 DC we've had covid and frankly they either had very mild cold like symptoms or were tested positive with absolutely no symptoms at all, so ime healthy teens thankfully don't get ill with covid (there may be rare exceptions to this but it will be similar risk to chance of serious side effects so one probably offsets the other) Current stats show still high transmission rate even with most people double jabbed so it doesn't look like jabs stop transmission. So I trust the independent scientific committees opinion and think it's the right decision.
The only, selfish, practical reason for me wanting DC to be jabbed is to make travelling abroad easier, looking at European destinations most (all?) ask for the the over 12s to be double jabbed or to have covid testing so makes planning a holiday abroad with DC in this age group risky , stressful and expensive.

[quote BewareTheLibrarians]@MarshaBradyo
I think this was directed at me but apologies if not

Your situation is very concerning and not ignored though. Can I ask how old he is? You may have mentioned it.

He was 10 when he caught covid, so not an age group that people think is affected. He was also completely healthy, sporty, fit, no underlying conditions. The kind of kid that would be leaping around despite having a stomach bug, brushed most illness off really quickly. Which makes a complete nonsense of *@AlecTrevelyan006 ‘s argument that we only vaccinate those who will be affected, becomes we ^don’t know well enough who will be affected.[/quote]
Yes I think I misread your name wrong sorry!

That is so hard for you all. Really heartbreaking. 16 yr old had vaccine no issue, not even 24 hour side effects like I did, and I didn’t hesitate really. But have 11 year old who is 12 soon.

It is mostly mild as pp said but any chance of what you are going through is enough to consider.

Also pp on travel I do wonder how hard it will get for 12+

I suppose I have a few months to decide in any case

@Barbie222

perhaps some of us just feel we’d like to take our chances with natural infection.

Why on earth wouldn't you still be able to do this if the vaccine went forwards? Some of us would rather not have a disease we don't have to have, and personal choice would let us both do what we felt was right.

I agree with @TheReluctantPhoenix . Spot on post. If you're worried that other people may judge you if you choose not to take a vaccination, maybe it's time to unpick why you don't want to own your choice.

Exactly!

Those of you who want to pursue natural infection with your own child can go ahead. I am pleased it looks like I’ll be getting the option to not do that.

Those of you who want to pursue natural infection with your own child can go ahead. I am pleased it looks like I’ll be getting the option to not do that.

The choice is good if it happens but I don’t agree anyone needs to unpick or feel bad re societal pressure if they don’t go ahead.

@MarshaBradyo

Piggy if CMO overrule will you be ok for your dc to have it and be ok with that or would you prefer as many as possible in age range do?

I’m happy to make my own decisions wrt to dc and others do the same - do you feel differently?

Not quite sure what you are asking me , marsha , sorry, but I would always choose vaccine for mine. I guess the more people that do the better.

I am also worried about new variants.

The choice is good

Definitely.

@Runnerduck34

Have DC in this age group and have mixed feelings about this. I do believe that vaccines should benefit those they are given to, i.e benefit to them outweighs risk to them. I have 4 DC we've had covid and frankly they either had very mild cold like symptoms or were tested positive with absolutely no symptoms at all, so ime healthy teens thankfully don't get ill with covid (there may be rare exceptions to this but it will be similar risk to chance of serious side effects so one probably offsets the other) Current stats show still high transmission rate even with most people double jabbed so it doesn't look like jabs stop transmission. So I trust the independent scientific committees opinion and think it's the right decision. The only, selfish, practical reason for me wanting DC to be jabbed is to make travelling abroad easier, looking at European destinations most (all?) ask for the the over 12s to be double jabbed or to have covid testing so makes planning a holiday abroad with DC in this age group risky , stressful and expensive.

Problem is, the JCVI haven’t actually made a decision, they have explicitly said that there are relevant issues (eg potential disruption to children’s education) they have not considered and passed the final decision on to the chief medical officers.

@illuyankas

Apparently doctors are advising against intense sport after the vaccine.

In my native country, doctors advise against intense sports after any vaccination, not just covid vaccine. It makes sense since you are putting your body under pressure, doesn't it?

It might make sense but it’s not something that we advise against in the U.K. yet.

My teenager doesn't want the vaccine, not that he has given it any proper thought or is concerned about the risks either way, but he doesn't like injections. Short term pain for long term gain is not a concept he relates to!
(I'm not talking needle phobia here, he's had plenty of vaccinations that were not presented as a choice to him).

Actually the more I think about this, it becomes obvious to me just how pointless it is to vaccinate children, and I agree with the view of the JCVI

The vaccine will NOT stop covid spreading, as you can still catch it with or without the vaccine, so the disruption element is a non starter, that will happen regardless if it is going to. The vaccine won't change that. So all of those saying it will prevent isolation and disruption to education, that is simply not the case. You can still catch covid and will need to be off school and isolate same as before.

The vaccine will stop serious infection, well given the statistics: children are almost certainly not even going to be aware that they have covid, much less be seriously ill. So that point is null and void. Children are not at risk anyway (and those that are CEV will have the option of vaccine)

Long covid - the stats tell us that the children recovering from long covid usually do so in 3-6 months in full. There are always exceptions, but the risk to health is also there with the vaccine, and could be fatal if you are one of the few that develop a serious heart condition. So long covid versus vaccine side effects cancel that issue for me.

Protecting wider society. If you can still catch and spread covid, how on earth will the children be 'protecting' society? There is no difference in terms of spread.

Now when you balance the benefits versus, I can't see any benefits when I really drill down. I actually can't see any benefits to vaccinating children at all. I can see plenty of downsides though having the vaccine:

• Risk of developing serious heart condition or death potentially
• Days off school feeling ill from the vaccine
• The long term worry of unknown harms to our children's health from the mRNA vaccine that are currently undisclosed due to a lack of data.
• Pain with injection - not pleasant experience for any child
• Boosters needed every year, as the efficacy wanes after six months
• You can go through all of this and still catch and be ill from bloody coivd!!

When I really think about it, why would any parent agree to this????

I see step is back to try to convince more parents not to let their kids be vaccinated. Why are they so invested in what other parents do?

Once more : the risk of developing myocarditis from the vaccine ( which is not always as serious as you like to state) is 60 in 1 million for boys. The risk of developing myocarditis for that same groups as a result of covid is 450 in a million.

@Piggywaspushed

Once more : the risk of developing myocarditis from the vaccine ( which is not always as serious as you like to state) is 60 in 1 million for boys. The risk of developing myocarditis for that same groups as a result of covid is 450 in a million.

Does the vaccine mean that if you get covid then you won't get myocarditis from covid?

And please don't peddle the injection hurts claptrap. It doesn't.