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Original poster

Parents of 12yr olds to vaccinate or not vaccinate that's my big struggle! Advice please?

124 replies

sparklymumSW4 · 02/02/2022 19:48

Hi all,
So let me start by saying myself and hubster all jabbed up inc booster and I work in the NHS so I'm by no way against the covid vaccine personally and I 100% accept the decisions of those who choose not to BUT... not sure how I feel about kids vaccines my twins turn 12 in a few weeks and I'm struggling over vaccinating them or not one child is happy to have it an the other is not ultimately I will make the decision but I just don't feel like I want them to have it right now as they are still quite small and I had a horrendous reaction to all 3 jabs.... would love to hear from parents of those turning 12 soon and those who have turned 12 and your opinions. Thanks

OP posts:
pikapikapukachu · 02/02/2022 23:06

@adriftabroad

No way is my 13 yr old having it. Madness.

And it's not her decision, it's mine.

Is she getting a say at all in that decision?
adriftabroad · 02/02/2022 23:09

No. She has has Covid twice and was fine.

She is a child.

BaileysBaileys · 02/02/2022 23:13

@pikapikapukachu how can a 13 year old make an informed decision like that ?

@adriftabroad
i agree she’s a child

CovoidOfAllHumanity · 02/02/2022 23:13

I wasn't actually all that keen for DD to have it despite being all vaccinated myself and being NHS
I don't think the medical benefits outweigh the risks for kids.

However my DD is 14 and she chose for herself to have it. She wants to minimise disruption to her life and education. She herself wants to be able to go on holidays and not to have homeschool again and have all her clubs cancelled and she saw being vaccinated as something she can do to avoid all that.

Maybe some would say she shouldn't do it for those reasons but those were her reasons and they are valid real world ones. I am not going to stand in her way

jessyjo2 · 02/02/2022 23:16

Myself and partner both took vaccine, no big concerns. For 13 year old DD we decided against. I have a concern in my mind that the vaccine could affect fertility etc. Guess will b number of years until we clearly understand if it does or not. She had covid recently, minor symptoms, fine.
Im certainly not trying to scare anyone else as i genuinely dont know if this is possible. Would love to know an expert opinion on fertility impact from vaccine.

pikapikapukachu · 02/02/2022 23:22

@jessyjo2

Myself and partner both took vaccine, no big concerns. For 13 year old DD we decided against. I have a concern in my mind that the vaccine could affect fertility etc. Guess will b number of years until we clearly understand if it does or not. She had covid recently, minor symptoms, fine. Im certainly not trying to scare anyone else as i genuinely dont know if this is possible. Would love to know an expert opinion on fertility impact from vaccine.
Here you go. There is plenty of information on line from reliable scientific sources.

covid.joinzoe.com/post/covid-19-pregnancy-questions#part_1

Thievesoil · 02/02/2022 23:23

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Squishmael · 02/02/2022 23:27

Firstly, there is no way I would let my soon-to-be 12 year old decide. They do not have the knowledge, skills or maturity to make such a decision and I think it's piss-poor parenting to expect them to!!

He will have any and all vaccines as soon as humanly possible.

pikapikapukachu · 02/02/2022 23:28

@Thievesoil

Why does the vaccine prevent home schooling?

Everyone I know with omicron is jabbed

Anyway, I’m baffled as to why anyone would vaccinate a healthy child? My 12 year old had a headache for two hours. Anecdotally she was much less unwell than her jabbed friends

Until I see decent data rather than gaslighting one menstrual effects and long term data on myocarditis including what “mild” means, it will not go near my kids, holiday or not

What do you mean by gaslighting? How are you being gaslighted? That implies that you think that scientists are hiding something from us?

Here is some info re: myocarditis

www.bhf.org.uk/informationsupport/heart-matters-magazine/news/coronavirus-and-your-health/coronavirus-vaccine-your-questions-answered/covid-19-vaccines-and-myocarditis-should-you-be-worried

CovoidOfAllHumanity · 02/02/2022 23:28

I don't think the vaccine is high risk for my DD I just don't think it will have any medical benefit to her as she is most unlikely to be ill at her age. The HPV vaccine will prevent her getting cervical cancer. That's a pretty good benefit but some very imperfect prevention of Covid isn't worth it at all in my view. Equally though my views are that it won't likely benefit or harm her. It's neutral to me so that's why I don't mind her taking a different decision to the one I'd have taken.

I do let my kids take decisions about their lives though with guidance. I let her choose her secondary school and her GCSE subjects too and I would not have overruled any choices I didn't agree with unless they were really bad and unsafe choices.

CovoidOfAllHumanity · 02/02/2022 23:31

The more people are vaccinated the less likely there will be another lock down.
The lower the case numbers the smaller the number of people in hospital, the better the NHS can cope, the less chance of another lockdown.

leafyygreens · 02/02/2022 23:31

@pikapikapukachu

That particular poster has been pointed to reams of data, studies and grants, all info that is publicly available, that highlight how intensively scientists are studying the effects of coronavirus infection and vaccination on menstrual health. No idea why they're still claiming they're being "gaslit".

Doesn't seem to make a jot of difference how many times the same thing is repeated though.

Ostef1 · 02/02/2022 23:49

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pikapikapukachu · 03/02/2022 00:03

@Ostef1

Message deleted by MNHQ
Oh ffs, stop sharing such utter shite. It's just irresponsible.
PepInYourStep · 03/02/2022 00:07

My children are older (and have chosen themselves to be vaccinated) but were they 12-15, I would be having them vaccinated at the earliest opportunity, no question in my mind at all.

The only thing that would make me hesitate would be genuine medical information specific to them that might mean their personal risk/benefit analysis was a bit different. Only you would know that and I'd be expecting you to get advice on that from their GP/consultant. (And this does not include your own reaction to the vaccine, which is irrelevant. But if you want to time their vaccinations so that they might be recovering during half term for the first one, you could do that.)

That's my advice to add to the pot.

I do believe it's your choice though. (I'm in doubt regarding whether a 12 year old can completely understand their own risk/benefit analysis, esp given all the nonsense that they are being exposed to in the media, on social media, in the playground etc. but again your parenting method may vary and that is your prerogative.)

PepInYourStep · 03/02/2022 00:15

@Thievesoil

Did you not vaccinate your (presumably healthy) newborn baby and then toddler with all the usual childhood jabs? Y'know, to help them stay healthy?

What about going on holiday to destinations for which a vaccination (I don't mean Covid-19, I mean all the other previously-established vaccinations) is required or strongly advised? Are you opposed to these because you/your kids are currently healthy and probably won't get these diseases?

Being healthy is not a barrier to vaccination with a well-researched (and yes, by now, it is!) vaccine!

The mind boggles.

Still your choice though.

BillLondon · 03/02/2022 00:16

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leafyygreens · 03/02/2022 00:18

All you troll bots have the same username format @BillLondon

If you're not being paid to promote this misinformation I'd suggest you're being shortchanged.

pikapikapukachu · 03/02/2022 00:20

@BillLondon because your post is completely sane, isn't it?!

I'd love to know what science did to you to make you hate it so much...

leafyygreens · 03/02/2022 00:20

Little point in engaging but I don't see anyone demanding vaccination.

The risk/benefit analysis demonstrates it's safer for children to be vaccinated than not. Whether someone chooses to go with this or not is their decision.

SeeminglyOblivious · 03/02/2022 00:24

Did you not vaccinate your (presumably healthy) newborn baby and then toddler with all the usual childhood jabs? Y'know, to help them stay healthy?

I did. Everything going, all three of the dc.

Because the risk of the disease...measles, mumps, rubella, all the rest...were high to them. And the risks of the vaccines proven over years to be low.

The same cannot be said of covid, for healthy children. The risk of covid is minuscule. 'The science' tells us that with bells on.

CovoidOfAllHumanity · 03/02/2022 00:25

The initial decision of the JCVI was not to recommend it for healthy children and that was overturned by the chief medical officers because of wider society benefits not medical ones. No-one can seriously claim it's more than a marginal benefit to kids so declining is not a stupid decision and nor is accepting.

Silverswirl · 03/02/2022 00:36

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PepInYourStep · 03/02/2022 02:46

Mumps is rarely serious, especially for girls. The benefit is mostly by protecting pubescent and post-pubescent boys and men. So why vaccinate your healthy baby girl against mumps?

The risk of rubella is mostly to your girl child's future foetuses and those of their mothers and other women. Vaccination is available to adult women whose immunity has waned or who haven't been vaccinated in the first place who want it before they become pregnant. So why vaccinate either your healthy baby girl or boy against rubella?

Measles-only vaccines are available (privately).

Clearly, therefore, this poster has a particular problem with the Covid vaccine(s) and has bought into some unscientific nonsense, rather than having a problem with vaccinating healthy children against diseases that in all probability won't have serious consequences for them personally (and which isn't by itself an unreasonable stance if based on actual science plus a very specific type of personal values). Be honest about it though.

PAFMO · 03/02/2022 06:14

@Thievesoil

Why does the vaccine prevent home schooling?

Everyone I know with omicron is jabbed

Anyway, I’m baffled as to why anyone would vaccinate a healthy child? My 12 year old had a headache for two hours. Anecdotally she was much less unwell than her jabbed friends

Until I see decent data rather than gaslighting one menstrual effects and long term data on myocarditis including what “mild” means, it will not go near my kids, holiday or not

Vaccinating the healthy is kind of the point of vaccination.