Are you getting your child 5-11 vaccinated? Why/why not?

Cameron326

On the fence about it, but the fact that as recent as a month or two ago the scientific advice, certainly coming out of the UK (on Yougov. no less) was that getting it was not recommended for under 12s unless they had a particularly vulnerable family member/were themselves very vulnerable - is making me think twice. If the case for vaccines is of the variety “parents need to sit down with their young (5 year old) child and have a discussion about it” (to quote a doctor in a recent Irish Times article) - well that just seems like they simply don’t know, in which case I look to the stats (such as they are available and as unclear/ill defined as they are) and the case for vaccination of healthy 5, 6, 7 year old, certainly in terms of pure known and speculative unknown risk/benefit to the child, seems unconvincing to say the least.

Icantthinkof1

No I won’t be getting my children vaccinated as they have all had Covid some of them have had it twice and were thankfully ok

Floppybits

No I won't be getting my 6 year old vaccinated. Covid has little to no effect on kids so there is no need to get her vaccinated. She has had covid and it was like a cold for her, shuck it off after a few days and was fine. Both me and her mam are triple vacc'd and we caught covid, it was mild enough for us. To tell you the truth only for my brother text to say my nephew test positive, we wouldn't have bother testing as we had it down to the after effects of the booster.

Marty Bird

No I won’t be getting them vaccinated, they had the virus only recently and it was a slight cough, healthy children are extremely low risk from the virus.

MilkyToast

No.

optogirl

Yes - both (10 & 7) have had their first dose. I just feel that the higher the levels of vaccination, the better for everyone.

copeyhagen

no, both (4 and 7) had it back in August, theirs was even milder than both times i had it. 100% they dont need it

Sammy2012

No mine are 6 and 8 and covid was in the house and they still didn't catch it. Myself and my husband both are triple vaxxed and caught it and we made no effort to isolate from the kids and they still didn't catch it from us.

MizMix

No. Myself and husband have it now (isolation ends tomorrow). Kids (9 and 7) didn’t get it. Negative antigens and pcrs. My husband has no symptoms. If it was a year ago I may have made a different decision but as this strain is weaker hopefully we’re getting close to it being endemic. I also think maybe they had it already as we haven’t isolated from them at all and I even kissed them on the lips first day (had a false negative on an antigen).

daydorunrun

No. It’s a no brainier to not vaccinate them at this point given what we’re seeing with the new variant.

-children mostly experience mild covid

-people vaccinated and boosted are still catching omicron.

-the argument for vaccination of young kids to protect older people no longer has any merit because of the above point.

-with the newer, milder variant the risks of vaccination outweigh the risks of infection which may well prove to give more immunity anyway

fully respect any parents right to do so mind you. Freedom of choice is important and needs to come back into fashion!

Cluedo Monopoly

I can't imagine the take up will be high for the 5-11 year olds.

Currently 20% have registered.

ms_wobbly

not a chance.

harrylittle

I wouldn't recommend it .... the effects of covid on children is a bit like the chicken pox..very mild effect on children in general compared to adults.

harrylittle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118471480#Comment_118471480

not to long ago parents used to hold chicken pox parties to get the children infected with chicken pox. this would result in children getting a mild form of chicken pox but would gain excellent life long immunity., much better than vaccines...ditto ..covid

Not a hope. She doesn't need it.

spaceHopper

I will have to get off the fence on one side or the other soon. 

Friend in work, he’s a rake of kids, they all got it, all recovered except, one who was always the fist up in the morning is now struggling a bit. He reckons in a month or two she’ll be fine. 

I’ve looked at the stats from the US, 8 million doses so 4 million kids, 30 odd serious adverse events, some seizures but most of those kids were prone to them. 17 cardiac issues all but 4 recovered and they are making progress, two deaths in kids that had serious underlying conditions so might not be vaccine related. 

Call it 40 in 4 million 1 in 100,000 chances if a problem in the short term. We can’t say long term.

What’s holding me back is well

The information from the HSE is so bad that it’s like they don’t want to engage with parents. 

They were wrong about the vaccine stopping transmission, what if they are wrong about safety in kids.  

Swine flu vaccine cases should not have taken 10 years to sort out. What if there is a problem with this vaccine. 

I see not real benefit for my kids apart from a vague possibility of the vaccine stopping long covid. But I can’t tell if it does? 

I want to do the right thing and feel some pressure to but I also think its wrong to give a vaccine to anybody which isn’t to benefit them but to benefit somebody else, aka to stop “Granny killing kids”. Also I don’t believe the vaccine will benefit 3rd party as it’s not stopping transmission. If you want protection, take it yourself and be protected against serious illness. 

MacDanger

100% yes

choronzonix

Nope

Yes.

Chips Lovell

Definitely yes. The fact that kids usually only get mild cases is kind of irrelevant IMO. The sooner we stem transmission, the sooner kids can go back to having a more normal childhood.

namloc1980

Nope. Omicron has brought about the demise of Covid. It has in effect finished itself off. Kids are at virtually zero risk anyway.

wotzgoingon

I have a 5 a 6 a 7 a 8 a 9 a 10 and a 11 year old and they are all getting the jab. I told them you need to toughen up. You're weak the lot of you. Crying over nothing. You little shíts.

I told them when I was your age I had to sleep on a pile of broken glass as my mattress.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118475340#Comment_118475340

Hope that’s a joke cos otherwise I’m gonna feel bad for laughing

spaceHopper

School sent out this link a few weeks ago I's missed it. Infor is OK ish

https://www.hse.ie/eng/services/covid-19-resources-and-translations/covid-19-vaccine-materials/important-information-for-parents-and-guardians-about-the-covid-19-vaccine-for-children-aged-5-11.pdf

c montgomery

Not a chance

Casati

Vaccine inequity is a such a massive problem, I read just before Christmas, only 1 in 4 Heath care workers in poor countries have received a vaccine - yet we are boosting everybody, and now vaccinating 5 year olds here as if it’s a virus we can control in Ireland without a care to the variants coming back from the rest of the world. It’s a big no from me

weetiepie

Not a hope for my 3 children under 10. Not enough research/long term effects.

TheDriver

No. We're now told that vaccinated get covid, can pass it on etc. So it's only to minimise illness. Kids don't seem to get sick so don't see any reason.

In fact don't see any reason for healthy 20-40 to get it except to get a cert to eat out/travel

MacDanger

Just on the point about transmission, you can still pass it on after being vaccinated but less so than someone who is vaccinated.

For example, take person A who hasn't been vaccinated and person B who has been vaccinated. Both contract covid at exactly the same time. Person As body needs to learn how to produce antibodies to fight & kill the virus and so the virus lives in their body until this happens. Person Bs body however already knows how to create antibodies to fight the virus so the virus is killed much sooner. In this way, person B has a much lower potential to transmit the virus than person A

zefirki

No no no!! My aunt pediatrician advised us against it (AT THE MOMENT)

I am not gonna mention here about my and a family member side effects from the jab ..thats for another thread...

I

wotzgoingon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118479819#Comment_118479819

I agree but I will mention the side effects I got. My penis shrunk 2 inches and I was speaking to an expert who said I will never get those 2 inches back.

zefirki

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118480186#Comment_118480186

My husband has the same,2 inches exactly...u r not alone dude...keep strong!!feel ur pain!

fits

Yes. For risk of MIS C and long covid alone. Also an acquaintance’s kid just <5 got covid this week and had a febrile seizure. His first. One of mine is a close contact I found out today so hopefully first dose will give some protection.

Balmed Out

Yeah both have had first dose already. Both have friends with siblings who would be in higher risk groups and having spoken to two friends who are GPs I had no doubt it was the right thing to do for their sake as well as others.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118475340#Comment_118475340

Reminds me of a post I saw on a snow thread in the weather forum a few years ago:

"Snowing heavey here all morning, the garden is like a winter wonderland. My two kids, 4 and 6, have their noses pressed to the window. If they don't go away soon I'll have to let them in"

johnire

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118479819#Comment_118479819

bb1234567

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118478065#Comment_118478065

There is also no long term effects of covid known. But out of covid and the vaccine, covid has killed several thousand children worldwide and hospitalised several thousand, while the vaccine has not.

And btw, I think vaccine on kids is a waste when there are elderly people in the developing world dying of covid . But the argument about long term side effects is nonsense while you allow a kid to be infected with something we know is already more harmful in the short term but with similar unknown about long term safety.

ISOP

no way

323

Thankfully they're awake and say no for themselves.

Lumen

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118486104#Comment_118486104

Well they didn't lick it off the stones. 😀

Radharc na Sleibhte

I’ll be leaving it for a good while yet, if at all. The pros are negligible. The cons are unknown. I’m sure what they’ll do is if I want to go to Spain it will be that they will have to have it. But after the swine flu debacle I’ll be happy to sacrifice holidays for another year and wait for actual data rather than taking their word for it again.

JDxtra

No, because…

They don’t need it.

They probably already had C-19.

It doesn’t stop them getting infected with Omicron.

It doesn’t stop them spreading Omicron.

UK don’t advise it and never have for any variant (for healthy children).

Irish advice has questionable motives.

Irish advise is based on pre-Omicron information (which is even milder).

weetiepie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118483656#Comment_118483656

Covid has killed just over 5000 children under the age of 9 Worldwide. 172 of these in the states alone..so I'm guessing majority of the remained of this figure would largely be in what is classed as third world countries. Of the 172 in the States my guess is that the majority of these kids had underlying conditions.

My children do not have any underlying conditions, are fit and well and have probably had covid at least once, if not more in the almost 2 years since its been about.

Ergo giving them a vaccine which we know very little about, would be ludicrous, For what benefit to them???

weetiepie

Pandemrix, the vaccine used 10 years ago for swine flue was said to be as a safe as the ordinary flu vaccine, which had been on the market for 60 years.

Yet how many children ended up with narcolepsy and suing the state over it?? As I said 10 years ago...not 50...so I think ill refrain from jabbing my kids with a vaccine the state assures me is ok to use..even though its in its infancy

So a boy in my sons class (first), told them all that “My manny said you need an operation to get the vaccine and that it’s very sore for two weeks after”. Guess who is afraid their children are going to be coming home asking why they aren’t getting the vaccine. What is she going to tell them when the ask “how come some of my friends have have it and they only had a sore arm for a day”.

Also, Interesting to the see the “we know very little about these vaccines” schtick is still going strong after billions of doses have been administered with hundreds of millions having been given to kids.

Car99

No because there is no benefit for healthy kids or society in vaccinating a against a virus soon to be categorised as endemic.

bb1234567

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118491564#Comment_118491564

I have no doubt they were fine, seeing as healthy children have a 99.999% chance of being fine from COVID. But that's short term. You specifically said it was the long term effects of the vaccine you were afraid of, as we know short term it's harmless to children just like covid. But as I said the point does not make much logical sense if it is the LONG term effects you fear seeing as we do not know the long term effects of covid either, so I don't understand why you are so sure covid would pose no issue long term while fear a vaccine may do. Surely you see where I'm coming from with my point.

If I had children I would leave it up to them, if they really wanted the vaccine I'd be happy for them to get it as risk of side effects look very low. I think it might be good to get it to maybe stop them getting a potential bad dose and not miss school, something like that..fear of your healthy child being killed or hospitalised by covid is verging on irrational. But certainly my reasoning for them not getting the vaccine would not involve fear of long term effects, because if that was my fear, COVID is clearly the one more likely to pose risk of long term effects, however small the chance may be.

MilkyToast

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118492161#Comment_118492161

If I had children I would leave it up to them

You should spend more time with 5-year-olds and then come and tell us how comfy you are with that position. 😂

fits

Well as expected we didn’t get as far as second dose before we caught it. One of my two children was a close contact Thursday and Friday and came down with it Sunday - exactly a week after the first jab. Sunday night was rough enough but he seems ok this morning

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118492772#Comment_118492772

Five year olds, in my experience, are more rational than at least half the posters in this place

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118475290#Comment_118475290

It doesn't stop transmission.