Schools and Covid 19 (part 5) **Mod warnings in OP**

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117924588#Comment_117924588

Why hesitant with this vaccine and not all the others?

daydorunrun

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117924728#Comment_117924728

Do you really need to ask that question or are you trolling?

The other vaccines being referred to have been in use for a long time and generally speaking cover illness that affects children far more than covid. You know full well that mRNA vaccines have only been in use a short time and so long term affects- especially on kids, are the cause of some concern to parents.

iamwhoiam

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117924728#Comment_117924728

I dont have a child under 12 but if I did I would absolutely be hesitant with a Covid vaccine . The other vaccines a child gets are tried and tested on millions of children over many many years

There is no comparison between them in my opinion

iamwhoiam

https://www.rte.ie/news/coronavirus/2021/0922/1248294-coronavirus-ireland/

From Monday, most primary school children and those in childcare facilities who are identified as close contacts of a confirmed case of Covid-19, but have no symptoms, will no longer have to restrict their movements, or get tested.

The automatic contact tracing of close contacts will also end, following advice from Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117924911#Comment_117924911

When this vaccine is passed for under 12s it will have cleared all the same regulatory hurdles as others, more so in fact as the Reg requirements are increasing all the time. No one was saying they would wait a few years for the meningitis vaccine. Or any others for that matter.

It’s successful deliberate fear mongering that has led otherwise rational people to irrational fear

iamwhoiam

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117925508#Comment_117925508

You do understand the huge difference in risk from Covid and from Meningitis B in a child dont you ?

Vaccinated30

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117925508#Comment_117925508

The Meningitis vaccine was around for years just not on our schedule but available privately.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117925560#Comment_117925560

Way to spectacularly miss the point. No one questioned how long the vaccine was around, no one spent months arguing about the rate of ill effects with the meningitis or any other vaccines for that matter. Brands and dosages of vaccines in the regular schedule change all the time, but no one blinks an eye. Newer versions come to the market and replace older ones all the time and no asks for years of safety data, just trust the process.

This time however, we all think we are experts and actual experts can be ignored because Karen on Facebook said x y and z

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117925563#Comment_117925563

Different meningitis vaccines have become available over time

iamwhoiam

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117925616#Comment_117925616

I am far from Karen on FB . I nursed children with Meningococcal Meningitis . I dont need your patronising explanation thanks .

A parent will not be faced with the same dilemma when choosing whether to vaccinated against Meningococcal C . Its that simple

————————-/

Of the people who get meningococcal disease:

• 1 in 20 will die
• 1 in 10 people who recover will have a major disability such as deafness, brain damage or loss of fingers, toes, hands, feet, arms or legs.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117925624#Comment_117925624

Choosing to miss to point so because your irrational fear gives you some form of feeling of control

iamwhoiam

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117925695#Comment_117925695

I have no fear thanks . I am fully vaccinated and living my life

But I would definitely hesitate before vaccinating a child age 3 for a disease that most likely wont harm him . But it seems our experts agree too for now

Vaccinated30

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117925624#Comment_117925624

I wish I coukd thank this 1 milliom times over!

Yes, years of data on the effect of meningitis on children v the 18 months of data on the effect of children with covid its very very clear the risk of meningitis far outweighs the risk of covid in children.

Also years of data on meningitis vaccine in children v trial data of covid vaccine in children.

They are 2 very very different scenarios!

Another example would be the Varciella Vaccine. Available for years and its safety is well known, although i never opted for it for my children because the chances of them being seriously ill from pox is very low. Although some children do become seriously ill with pox, most dont so we carry on. They isolate from school until better and a notice is circulated in the class saying there was a pox case and to watch for signs and isolate if necessary. I expect the same situation in schools re covid.

I allowed my children to catch chicken pox and whilst I woudnt attend a covid party with my children, I dont worry about them catching it at all.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117925703#Comment_117925703

The point is moot as the vaccines have not been approved for 3 year olds, but once they are it will be available for the experts to decide on whether to recommend the vaccine.

Now being the parent of small kids have you once questioned the risk /benefit, long term safety data etc of any other vaccine that your children have received that have been approved for use in the same manner

Vaccinated30

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117925695#Comment_117925695

Choosing to not get a new vaccine is not an irrational fear. Its not even a fear. Its a choice. I cant speak for the other poster but Im not even afraid of my kids catching covid let alone afraid of a vaccine to prevent it

iamwhoiam

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117925744#Comment_117925744

Thank you . Exactly the risk of Men C far outweigh the risk of vaccine which is of course the important point !

I dont have young children so I dont have the decision to make but fully understand why a parent of s small child would hesitate before consenting to a Covid vaccine

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117925624#Comment_117925624

That is all not disputable on meningitis but that was not the point. The point that remains missed is that suddenly people who never previously questioned any other addition or change (vaccines brands in the schedule change all the time) suddenly don’t trust the exact same process that got all the other vaccines included based on nothing. If the vaccine benefit is demonstrated it will be approved. And to me the benefit of the Covid vaccine in children, if it is judged appropriate, is in commencing the process of having a level of resistance for life against a virus that will remain with us forever. And engendering that resistance in a controlled manner through a safe and effective vaccine is far less risky than uncontrolled infection, even if that risk itself is low.

Vaccinated30

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117925854#Comment_117925854

And thats the benefit to you, great get your kids vaccinated as soon as possible. Im not telling anyone else to not vaccinate their child, mine will benefit from the herd immunity and the data of vaccinated children will determin if they get vaccinated themselves.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117925879#Comment_117925879

It all goes back to the original post that triggered this divergence. The baseless opinion that there is an effort to coerce parents into vaccinating kids with a less than dosage vaccine when in fact if it becomes part of the schedule for primary school age kids or younger it will do so in the same manner as all those never questioned. You are looking for years of data which you don’t know if it existed or not for all of the other vaccines that did not have the same publicity that you never even gave a second thought to.

Vaccinated30

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117925928#Comment_117925928

I did know they existed. I got them, my cousins friends siblings aunts uncles nieces nephews all got them. No whether my great great grandmother checked the safety of the vaccine she first allowed her child to have is absolutely irrelevant because im not her. I have the data for the childhood vaccines based on everyone i know having them. Im now in the position of being the 1st generation of parents letting their children be vaccinated with a new vaccine and Im choosing to wait.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117925988#Comment_117925988

So the vaccine schedule today is the exact same as when you were a kid and does not include new vaccines or ones that have changed?

And you claim to be basing your view on data. Laughable really

Vaccinated30

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117926027#Comment_117926027

No obiously it has changed but many many many other prople i know their kids have gotten them. Mine were never ever the 1st lot of children to get them before now.

Vaccinated30

The newest vaccine my children got was 4 years old, millions of children had recieved it before mine did. That is not the same as the covid vaccine.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117926236#Comment_117926236

So you know if your kids got the GSK or the MSD mmr vaccine? You know that they got the same one as a baby as at 5? You know that no new versions were released to market just prior to your children receiving them? You reviewed all the safety data at each stage? And you know the same for all others on the schedule. I am sure when the 6-in-1 replaced the 5-in1 just over 10 years ago you would have been waiting a couple of years for more data if your kids were around at the time or a least looking for the data for years previously if used elsewhere?

The reality is the we hear so much about Covid that we all think our own opinions are equally valid to those who actually understand what they are talking about, and cling to those opinions as a crutch against uncertainty, trying to hold on to a semblance of control in a world were a unseen organism has undone the previous certainty that existed in our lives.

But enough on vaccines in the wrong thread. It gets me though that every thread is now full of subtle anti vaccine messages being spread by otherwise pro vaccine individuals who have been hoodwinked by deliberate divisive messaging

Vaccinated30

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117926483#Comment_117926483

I have not been hoodwinked by anything and you are being awfully patronising by saying so.

Im a parent who is making a decision based on the information i have.

Just as much as i wont let a new neighbour babysit them but i would let one that i know 18 months babysit them. Either option could result in a terrible consequence but i base my decision on the here and now.

History Queen

I'm really surprised that they are halting contact tracing in primary schools. I completely understand that the current model is causing massive educational disruption and change was needed but I'm so surprised they've gone this way. It just seems to contradict everything that's been hammered in to us about the importance of stopping the spread.

Also hard to understand how a child has to isolate if they are a close contact of their brother, but not if they are a close contact of the kid they sit next to at school.

Vaccinated30

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117926905#Comment_117926905

Because we are not at the point we were in March 2020, stopping the spread is impossible. Also living with your brother you are with them a lot longer and a lot closer and its very diferent than in a school environment where windows are open sanitiser constantly on the go etc

It is time to move on and live our lives.

Ive just read a comment online (so take it as you will but cdc links were provided)

600 children died from covid worldwide in 18 months, whereas 2 million die every year from complications of rhinovirus, the common cold.

History Queen

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117926952#Comment_117926952

Oh, I didn't think about it in terms of time spent together, that makes sense of they take that in to account. I don't think they do though. Obviously I used the example of a brother but it's any household contact i think so that'd include visitors etc who you wpuld have less contact with than the person you sit beside. It's just a blanket -household close contacts isolate, school ones don't.

As regards school settings, you may be surprised how limited the open windows and use of sanatiser is.

I'm selfishly going to pull my kids from childcare and test them if there is a case, regardlessof this new policy. It feels like the right thing to do in our circumstances.

Vaccinated30

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117927057#Comment_117927057

The guidance is anyone who spends overnight in the house when a person was infectious, so not just visitors its quite specific. Ill find that for you and link it asap.

The self referral for testing is closing soon and it will be back to GP referral only so I do think Antigen tests are the way forward for parents who are worried.

https://www.hse.ie/eng/services/news/media/pressrel/hse-to-implement-changes-to-testing-and-contact-tracing-for-children-aged-over-3-months-to-under-13-years.html

A child under 13 who is not fully vaccinated, will be considered a household contact if they were present overnight in a house or residential setting while a person with COVID-19 was infectious in that house”.

Lumen

IMO at this stage of the pandemic it makes more sense to do random PCR testing (like opinion polling) than targeted testing of "symptomatic" primary school kids. This would give better data about spread.

COVID is so low risk to primary school kids that their infection (and subsequent immunity) is probably net positive in terms of controlling community transmission.

If and when vaccines are approved for the under 12s parents can make informed decisions about vaccination as an alternative to possible infection, as they are currently doing for over 12s. With no benefit for freedom of travel, and (currently) low levels of transmission in schools I'd expect the take up to be a bit lower.

I hope masks will be removed in secondary schools soon. Over the next couple of weeks most of the kids who want vaccination will be fully vaccinated.

There won't be a better time to return schools to normal.