Covid vaccine for a 12 year old boy with no underlying conditions

[happytoday73]

I feel very conflicted about what to do for my son vaccine wise. Where is the best place for more unbiased information to make this choice?

Dont get me wrong..I'm pro vaccine. I'm vaccinated for covid and would love to get a booster... but 2 years too young!

My son has had all his vaccines and thankfully is fit, healthy, sporty....but
I just don't know...on balance it feels his individual risk from covid is very very low, adverse reaction to vaccine again very very low (but significantly higher)... So why bother?

I totally get why only 1 vaccine shot being offered. But again that doesn't give the advantages that come with being fully vaccinated....

@Geamhradh That’s adds a bit of clarity to my last post then. So:

Approved/recommended ✅
Not approved/recommended ❎

JCVI ❎ considered health and logistics? not all members medical experts.
MHRA ✅ - all medical experts? Approved purely on medical/health reasons?
CMO ✅ - considered health, logistical and wider/community issues.

Help me out with the bits with question marks as I have no idea! (With the massive caveat that we shouldn’t have to be searching for this information, it should be a lot clearer than they’ve made it.)

For anyone that can’t see the emojis on my last post, JCVI said no, MHRA and CMO said yes to the vaccine rollout.

The European Medicines Authority have also approved Pfizer and Modena vaccines for under 18s and several European countries and USA have started rollout to teens so it may be worth looking at the data they provide.

JCVI essentially decide whether as an individual there is justifiable benefit to recommend it but (allegedly) doesn't consider societal aspects.

The chances of an adverse reaction are very low for your DC but equally there may not be a huge benefit to it. For me at the moment any benefit given low risk of adverse reaction would be enough to swing it. DD is too young so its not my decision to make at the moment.

My son had Covid a month ago so won't be getting the vaccine. He's getting the flu vaccine though (first time his age group has been offered it)

My kids aged almost 18 and 13 have decided not to have it. The chances are they’ll be fine having covid with or without the vaccine so I’m fine with their decision.

@BeenAroundTheWorldAndIII

It what's the point in it? (Genuine question) Only over 50s are going to be offered a booster and we don't hold on to immunity for long. I had both jabs but can't really understand what the point was if by next year everyone but the older and vulnerable groups will get ongoing boosters and they have all gave/been offered it at the stage anyway!?

You should ask your GP this question. Medical professionals will be able to answer these questions without any agenda and better than any randomer on the internet.

Is there not some kind of campaign in the UK to get people to talk to their GPs if they have questions about the vaccine? I know here in Ireland there is often ads on the radio(or at least there was when it was first announced that children were to be vaccinated) signposting people to where they could find information and telling them to speak to their GP with any questions they might have.

Mumsnet is rife with misinformation at the moment as are most social media platforms, it is really important that you discuss any questions that you might have with people who know what they are talking about not self-proclaimed experts on the internet.

my 13 yeor old ds won't be having it. He's not bothered either way, but quite probably doesn't have the maturity to make the decision anyway.
I would prefer my 15 yr old daughter not to have it, but she wants it and has capacity to make that decision so she will be having it.
4 out of 5 of my dc have had covid (aged 21, 19,17 and 15) the 13 yr old either didnt have it or was asymptomatic. All had it very mildly. 15 yr old was actually totally asymptomatic and only tested as she was a contact of friend at school. I personally consider for my son the risks (although small) outweigh any possible benefits. The evidence on how much it reduces transmission is not convincing, especially for delta. Additionally the fact JCVI didnt not recomend it suggests this is the right decision to me.
I am not anti vax, all my children were previously fully vaccinated and both dh and myself are double vaxxed.

mynameis I think clearly GPs must be easier to access in Ireland than in England! Here you'd be lucky to get to speak to a GP within 6 months if your arm was hanging off! Certainly no way they will be taking calls to answer quesitons about the vaccine. (which they will have little extra info on anyway in fact)

oh, and I should add that my 19 year old caught it after she had had one dose of pfizer, so anecdoatedly it reduce transmisison in our household

Travel: no, one dose would not be considered sufficient in the EU or any other country. It might be accepted in some countries if you also do a PCR before departure.
If I had a child with one dose only in the U.K. (my youngest is

You should ask your GP this question.

We can’t even get appointments with an NHS doctor for illnesses. I don’t fancy our chances of getting one for a chat about vaccines. 😬

@HitchhikersGuide

Follow the JCVI guidance. They are the experts and they did not recommend it.

That's not quite what was said when you read further. The didn't not recommend it. They gave their opinion on an aspect of the decision making,, leaving others with further information about other factors to make the final decision for the UK.

Many other countries agreed to its use and benefits and have been vaccinating 12+ for quite a while now.

@bluedart

That said, I've just heard on BBC that travellers to France over 12 will need to be vaccinated or quarantine on arrival from October, so that might end up swinging our decision.

Portugal was saying the same thing - not sure when from. Some Caribbean islands have the same rule.

Many other countries are vaccinating 12+ so to them it makes sense to have this rule. Other countries may go down this route.

It will be interesting to note whether one dose will be classed as the fully dose for 12-16y or not.

[quote BewareTheLibrarians]@Geamhradh That’s adds a bit of clarity to my last post then. So:

Approved/recommended ✅
Not approved/recommended ❎

JCVI ❎ considered health and logistics? not all members medical experts.
MHRA ✅ - all medical experts? Approved purely on medical/health reasons?
CMO ✅ - considered health, logistical and wider/community issues.

Help me out with the bits with question marks as I have no idea! (With the massive caveat that we shouldn’t have to be searching for this information, it should be a lot clearer than they’ve made it.)[/quote]
Ooh I like your little signs!
I'm confused too now though
A much cleverer MNer than me set it out a few weeks ago, can't find the thread now, but I think you're correct.
What seems logical to me as a lay person that we shouldn't ONLY be listening to the JCVI and not the other two. I think people have heard more about the JCVI because it's been the body debating the vaccine during this period.
Now it's gone up the hierarchy to the real decision makers and (,up to a point understandably) people are reacting to their having said no, we don't think it's necessary at this time by saying 'but but the JCVI..."

Beware the JCVI have been behaving a bit oddly recently, IMO. Their last report about vaccinating teens suggested that to reduce educational inequality, children with covid should be allowed to go to school instead of vaccinating them. Given that they now claim they can only look at health benefits, I am completely baffled as to why that sort of comment was in their previous report as it seems extremely far removed from their remit.

That they didn’t reference long covid data in the evidence is also puzzling.

@greenweepingwillow

mynameis I think clearly GPs must be easier to access in Ireland than in England! Here you'd be lucky to get to speak to a GP within 6 months if your arm was hanging off! Certainly no way they will be taking calls to answer quesitons about the vaccine. (which they will have little extra info on anyway in fact)

Oh ok, I didn't realise that your health service was so terrible in the UK. Clearly, though GPs would have more info than lots of posters here.

Strange how everyone was seemingly happy to follow the jcvi guidance when jcvi were saying what they wanted to hear, but now they’re supposedly all sorts of dodgy and not real experts at all.

Thank you @BewareTheLibrarians for teasing some threads out of the metaphorical knot!

@Notthemessiah I think that’s a simplistic reduction of the situation. We have three different highly respected sources saying different things and not necessarily addressing or focussing on the same factors. Add international policies (also using expert opinions) and it becomes muddier. It’s a good thing people are discussing it.

but now they’re supposedly all sorts of dodgy

Less dodgy now than they were, as Dingwall left.

@noblegiraffe

but now they’re supposedly all sorts of dodgy

Less dodgy now than they were, as Dingwall left.

And yet they were obviously happy to appoint him in the first place.

i must have missed it when dodgy was redefined to mean having a different opinion.

The MHRA have approved the 2 dose regime which is what was used in the clinical trials. This one dose business is not evidence based and the evidence with delta is one dose is about 30% effective and presumably it will wear off quicker as well.
I don’t understand why they can’t just stick with the approved dosing. One dose won’t count as vaccinated for travel or anything either

No, dodgy has been defined as having links to dodgy anti-lockdown organisations and working for them 'on the inside'.

@Cornettoninja

Thank you *@BewareTheLibrarians* for teasing some threads out of the metaphorical knot!

@Notthemessiah I think that’s a simplistic reduction of the situation. We have three different highly respected sources saying different things and not necessarily addressing or focussing on the same factors. Add international policies (also using expert opinions) and it becomes muddier. It’s a good thing people are discussing it.

I totally agree. It’s obviously far from clear cut, which is why it’s disappointing to see people here taking the lazy route and just disparaging the body (and the experts on it) that happens to disagree with their own preferences.

I don’t think there’s anything dodgy about the JCVI guidance. If you look at what WHO are saying they say not to do children or boosters and that those doses are far better used in countries with low vaccination rate. That we won’t get on top of covid until we do that because we’ll just continue to get variants and reinfection. Of course that doesn’t suit our government but there advice is just as valid

why it’s disappointing to see people here taking the lazy route and just disparaging the body (and the experts on it)

I don't think you understand what you're talking about here...