Vaccinating 6-11's

[JammyGeorge]

Does anyone know if there are any plans to vaccinate none vulnerable primary age children?

If so any idea of timescales?

No plans in the UK.

They haven't even started on the vulnerable ones.

No plans at all at the moment

Thanks I was hoping maybe it might be on the horizon in the next few weeks.

We are desperate to go and visit DH family in Queensland as we haven't seen them in 3 years. We lost mil in the first lockdown and it's been really hard on FIL not being able to see his other son and family over there.

But... we have a 9 year old unvaccinated child. I read the Q's website and it said that unvaccinated minors had to quarantine for 14 days. We are disappointed as that just doesn't work for us, we can only go for 3 weeks anyway.

We are planning to go for Xmas and are just gutted, if we don't make it this year then it's 4 years apart.

I'm livid it's taking so long. In France it's already well underway. Kids have been through so much in this pandemic and they are just not prioritising them at all. DS now has Covid for the 2nd time....

I have pals back in America whose kindergarten-aged children are fully vaccinated now. And there was no faff or mixed messages about vaccinating teenagers either.

It's flipping ridiculous that one of the first countries to approve a Covid vaccine for adults is dragging its feet on vaccinating children!

At least let us buy the vaccine privately a la chickenpox if it's a cost issue holding back children's vaccines.

Absolutely iCloud.

We would happily pay for it.

@JammyGeorge out of curiosity would you be as eager to vaccinate your 9yo if it wasn't a requirement to travel? I am in a similar situation with my 12yo, something in my gut is holding me back vaccinating them just for the sake of a holiday i know its more than a holiday to you though

I think I would wellby but totally understand that people will have different feelings on the subject.

I live in Mexico and our Minister of Health, an eminent immunologist, says that it is too risky to vaccinate healthy children.

I'm a vaccinator and we've seen a massive uptake in 12-15 year olds coming early for their 2nd dose because they want to go skiing or on holiday for half term. It's supposed to be a 12 week gap, due to the myocarditis risk but can be 8 weeks if high cases/new variant. So we can do it, but we advise to wait. Had a few today who insisted on having it early as they have travel plans. Others who just came because they thought they were due went away again and will come back at 12 weeks, as they felt the risk wasn't worth it.

Regarding under 12s, I can't see healthy children being offered a vaccine here any time soon. Especially now Omicron is generally milder. The JCVI weren't even recommending it for 12-15 due to the risk benefit balance being so close, and that was before Omicron.

Australia is vaccinating 6-11 year olds. My nieces have both had theirs. QLD too. I don’t think we’ll be able to visit with unvaccinated DC.

It's too late to bother now. And pointless until there are Omicron specific vaccines anyway.

I’m in Ireland and my 5 year old is vaccinated. I don’t know if its possible for you to get yours vaccinated here?

I don't know if vaccinating in Ireland is an option but it's something we can look into.

I suppose we'll just have to watch and see how things develop in QLD and if their stance changes over time.

If not we won't see them until DS is 12 which is 6/7 years apart and is absolute madness. They've just bought a new house so we can't meet them in the middle either.

DH will go on his own this Xmas if we can't sort it.

I just assumed with US, Oz, france, italy Belgium etc all jabbing 6-11's that it would be on the cards for the UK at some point in the near future.

It absolutely should be an option. There are vulnerable kids who the vaccine was approved for before Christmas still waiting because it hasn’t been rolled out here yet. Plus there’s a lot of evidence kids can suffer from long covid or develop auto immune issues after having covid and they’re the ones predominantly spreading it around communities id wager (yes I know vaccines don’t stop the spread but they do lessen the viral load therefore making them a useful tool in reducing the severity of infection)
I wouldn’t hesitate to get, for example, the yellow fever vaccine for my kids if we wanted/needed to go to a country that required they have it, we should have the option to access the covid vaccine for our children especially when so many countries require it for entry

I am naively hoping and preying that covid vaccine status to travel will be scrapped by next year . We know that vaccine efficacy wanes over time and there has not been any suggestion at all that regular vaccination for everyone will become the norm.

A lot can happen between now and Christmas. WHO this week have started questioning the need for vaccination for international travel.

travelweekly.co.uk/news/air/world-health-organization-calls-for-lifting-of-international-travel-bans

I wouldn't rush into vaccinating my children now especially for the sake of a quick holiday, as more data/information emerges followed by new recommendations around the subject such as this:

www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/who-says-no-evidence-healthy-children-adolecents-need-covid-19-boosters-2022-01-18/

Thanks for the link toooutthere.

This isn't just a holiday (although I'm hoping it is fun) it's hugging our dearly loved family after 3 years apart and a tragic family bereavement.

If it was just a holiday I'd switch it to another destination without a second thought.

Food for thought though.

Let's hope Oz changes its stance over the next few months then it is a none issue.

@Coyoacan

I live in Mexico and our Minister of Health, an eminent immunologist, says that it is too risky to vaccinate healthy children.

Mexico has been a strange outlier on vaccinations for ages hasn't it? I read that the Minister of Health said there were no benefits to vaccinating teenagers, but hadn't realised they were actually saying it was "too risky". Which, obviously, is a great cause for concern given it's totally untrue.

Would all of you travelling to a destination that doesn't require your child being vaccinated be an option?
I know it's quite an upheaval, but it could be a break for all of you and a way to reconnect.

@JammyGeorge

Thanks for the link toooutthere.

This isn't just a holiday (although I'm hoping it is fun) it's hugging our dearly loved family after 3 years apart and a tragic family bereavement.

If it was just a holiday I'd switch it to another destination without a second thought.

Food for thought though.

Let's hope Oz changes its stance over the next few months then it is a none issue.

Thanks for explaining. I totally get it, as we're in the exact same shoes going without having seen any family members for 2.5 yrs. It's absolutely heartbreaking in any way but even more so if your family also had to deal with bereavement during this time.

We're choosing to sit tight for now as things have definitely started to move into a different direction and I firmly believe that we'll have a lot more freedom come the summer hols.

My eleven year old is classed as vulnerable and not been offered the vaccine yet .