Why is one jab good enough for kids but not adults?

[Whatdoyawannado]

If one jab is adequate for under 18s how is it not enough for over 18s?

Because it's not a straightforward analysis of benefit, it's benefit weighed with other factors. The likelihood of serious illness is less the younger you are, so the idea is lower protection is justified as doing enough in a less at risk group, given the (very small) risks. I also read somewhere the other day that the very small number of heart issues in younger people (sorry I've forgotten the name of the condition) are more likely after the second jab than the first and this was factored in to the decision to only offer a single jab to this age group.

In other words, the older you get the bigger the risks of covid, so more protection overrides the (very, very small) risks from vaccination, IYSWIM.

Younger people have a better immune response. They also have lower risk, after just one jab a mild infection will be even milder.

But what about how long it lasts for? I thought the second jab was to provide longer term protection.

A second dose for healthy 16/27 year olds is basically a top up to their immune system. Us oldies need more of a top up in 2 and now 3 doses. You never know, the youngsters may yet be given another dose in weeks to come, I hope it won’t be necessary though. We seem to be playing follow my leader with other countries at present.

I'd rather my dc have 2 doses, but 1 is better than none. And school children are most likely to get infection at certain point because of the setting. So 1 vaccine and natural immunity might be good enough for long term too. Or if it goes out of hand, they might offer the 2nd dose.

Each country decides its own vaccination protocols based on various factors. The UK, for now, has decided on one. Where I live all 12-17s have had 2 unless they've had Covid, in which case 1.

It’s not to do with ‘us oldies need more!’
The vaxx was made to be taken in 2 doses. Everyone needs 2 doses to get full protection, young and old.
However, the risks of serious side effects from the second jab for 12-15 year olds are higher, thus outweighting the benefits of getting the 2nd jab for now.
The same can’t be said for older age groups because the risks from CV are much higher.

What worries me is my just 17yo is only allowed one dose. But she will need to be 'fully' vaccinated by 18+6 months. Will that gap be too long for just having the second dose, or will she need to start again at 17 +9 months when the 18yos were allowed their first dose? No-one seems to have thought this through

@Seeline

What worries me is my just 17yo is only allowed one dose. But she will need to be 'fully' vaccinated by 18+6 months. Will that gap be too long for just having the second dose, or will she need to start again at 17 +9 months when the 18yos were allowed their first dose? No-one seems to have thought this through

Is that just for the passport/travel etc?

Perhaps we will be moving away from needing that at all.

I have no idea. Thankfully, lots of clever professionals in the field do so that works for me.

@Seeline

What worries me is my just 17yo is only allowed one dose. But she will need to be 'fully' vaccinated by 18+6 months. Will that gap be too long for just having the second dose, or will she need to start again at 17 +9 months when the 18yos were allowed their first dose? No-one seems to have thought this through

I have thought about exactly the same thing, Seeline, and I haven't seen any answers explaining whether 12-17yos will end up with 3 doses, or what.

Like you say, it doesn't seem to have been thought all the way through. Or if it has, it needs to be communicated!

My eldest is 15, so I am hoping that vaccine passports are a dim and distant memory by the time he's 18...

Both my teens got Covid between their first and second jabs, so I'm a bit sceptical that it's going to make enough of a difference tbh.
They're 18 and 19, but both petite so smaller than many younger teens.
Thankfully all fine now but they were unwell with it, with one needing antibiotics afterwards to clear a secondary infection.

How much benefit would one jab give an adult?

I was fine after my first - but have had side effects since my second. I think this is common with Pfizer?

Would it be better for adults, also, to stick with just one jab?

I'd forgo the side effects, which are preventing me from working, to just have the protection from one jab.

My guess is they’re probably not entirely sure what dose is best yet themselves- what they do know is the quality of eduction is at risk if schools keep being disrupted by Covid, transmission in schools is a big factor in our combined effort to curb the virus. There’s always a chance that Winter could bring school closures once again.

We have no other option except to give the children the vaccine and hope it has an effect on spread in schools. Their natural immune response should be robust enough without vaccines however if Long Covid is a credible risk perhaps one dose is enough to counteract their chances of them suffering with that.

But the vaccine isn't stopping people from getting Covid @Thewiseoneincognito

And that's 2 doses!!

I work in a school and double vaxxed staff are off now with Covid. I"m petrified of catching it and honestly think I've got as much chance as any unvaxxed person going by what I'm seeing around me.

I’d rather teenagers got two jabs too - that’s how it’s done in most other countries.

I don't know. UK teenagers are special????
In my country it's 2 for 12-17 year olds.

@Seeline

What worries me is my just 17yo is only allowed one dose. But she will need to be 'fully' vaccinated by 18+6 months. Will that gap be too long for just having the second dose, or will she need to start again at 17 +9 months when the 18yos were allowed their first dose? No-one seems to have thought this through

She'll be able to have a 2nd dose when she turns 18, right? So that will be a year or so after her 1st one, that's fine.

@pontypridd

But the vaccine isn't stopping people from getting Covid *@Thewiseoneincognito*

And that's 2 doses!!

I work in a school and double vaxxed staff are off now with Covid. I"m petrified of catching it and honestly think I've got as much chance as any unvaxxed person going by what I'm seeing around me.

I didn’t say it did, I said ‘hope’ that it has an effect on transmission.

Nothing else is working as things stand now. If the vaccine doesn’t impact spread and the effects of Covid on children then some difficult questions will need to be addressed and a rethink of how to educate children safely.

Schools are our Achilles heel with a correlation between term time and case rates that is hard to deny. If we are to move forward we have to address the issue somehow and vaccinating 12-15 seems logical in the context of ‘vaccination slows spread’. Allegedly, even though it’s not been the case yet for adults.

Case rates are decreasing.

I think because the whole situation is a shambles, the data and information is confusing. Experts are disagreeing. My opinion is that the whole thing is a mess, no one knows what they are doing with it.

"Schools are our Achilles heel with a correlation between term time and case rates that is hard to deny. If we are to move forward we have to address the issue somehow and vaccinating 12-15 seems logical in the context of ‘vaccination slows spread’. Allegedly, even though it’s not been the case yet for adults."

So you openly say that it's not been the case yet for adults, but you still think vaccinating teenagers is the answer?

Well, if it isn't doing such a great job in reducing transmission, why take the risk that has been published? The sensible thing to do is to wait.

Because like almost every other response to the pandemic so far, they haven't got a clue and are making it up as they go along.

"12:02IncredulousOne

Because like almost every other response to the pandemic so far, they haven't got a clue and are making it up as they go along."

Agreed.

I think it speaks volumes that members of the JVCI who were against vaccinating schoolchildren were asked to resign before the JVCI deliberated and they still didn't recommend vaccinating 12-15. So the govt leaned on Chris Whitty to be the fall guy instead, and he duly obliged.

The more of these kind of shenanigans I see, the more I come to believe that this is no longer about controlling a virus; it's about controlling the people.