Would you be happy for your children to receive covid-19 vaccine

Risk for children (as far as I can see) is near zero. I currently see no need to vaccinate children, certainly those under 16. I would not be keen on it unless there is some change and we have absolute clear evidence to say Covid is a significant risk to children.

No.

'Vaccine nationalism' has gotten a little out of hand imo.

Leave children alone, and accept that not every 85 year old has a long span ahead of them.

I would comply with evidence, but I am not seeing any evidence of a significant risk to children. Parents with at risk children are welcome to make their own choices, I have no issue with that. It would be very dangerous for the government to force vaccinations on children at this point in time.

The empirical evidence is there for all. Young children with covid have next to no symptoms nor illness. So what's the motivation for this?

We'll never reach herd immunity without it. We have more than a million people under 18.

Infection will keep circulating and keep picking vulnerable people off. Maybe not in huge numbers but it will always be a risk.

Serious illness in children is rare but not a zero risk. Enough kids get it, then a number will get really sick and some will die.

Herd immunity via vaccination is a mirage. We know that Pfizer vaccine is only 50% to 60% efficacious against delta with respect to symptomatic infection so the vaccines will never eradicate Covid rather protect people from the worst of it.

Its increasingly clear that Covid is now endemic and we’re all going to get it at some stage. We will get to a point in a year or two where everyone will have at least partial immunity and emerging Covid strains/variants will cause mild to moderate symptoms.

The issue I have with vaccinating children is that their risk from Covid is so low it’s incalculable and the risk of adverse events from the vaccine are far more of a threat to them.

Yes. IMO the virus poses a greater health risk to them than the vaccine.

I would absolutely have my children get whichever vaccine is approved for them.

if the attitude of some around here was prevalent previously we would still be struggling with Smallpox and Polio.

12-15 may be considered here but nowhere are they looking at doing younger than that yet, if ever. No pass for something like measles makes sense at an R0 of 16-18 where you really need 95% of the whole population vaccinated but that is not COVID and risks to smaller kids are pretty small.

Normal life should resume without the need to vaccinate the younger children whom are not impacted by this.

This is a particularly obnoxious framing of the issue, similar in tone to the "why don't you just hide under your bed" framing of relaxation of restrictions.

It is not necessary to "live in fear" (or conversely, signal your bravery) in order to make the judgement that the overall risk/benefit of the vaccine falls one way or another.

There are known inflammatory side effects from both the vaccines and the virus, so the judgement of which is "better" depends on a number of factors, not least the risk of infection which varies as the pandemic waxes and wanes.

The WHO stance is a general one because most vaccines have not been studied in children. The Pfizer one has been.

Also, the WHO does not agree with vaccinating Western children while vulnerable people in developing counties are still unvaccinated. Which is fair enough.

This is important though. The vaccines are approved. A conditional authorisation means you have to file a yearly progress update on ongoing studies and safety. That is all. It is very common even for non-pandemic drugs and it is utterly disingenuous to paint this as a safety concern. The alternative is to get vaccines sometime in 2027.

My niece is 15 years of age and has been suffering from neurological effects since recovering from the disease early last year. She's an incredibly intelligent person and had been doing college classes in maths and science while in middle school, to put it in context that's the equivalent of a Junior Cert student also studying for a university degree. She has gone from sailing through her classes as an A student at university level to struggling to pass her exams at school level. Her ongoing symptoms are brain fog, chronic fatigue, insomnia - she had a seemingly mild dose of covid but it has robbed her of a bright future.

There is a lot that scientists haven't yet come to understand about the effects of virus and it would be foolish to dismiss it as no more dangerous than the common cold.

https://www.inverse.com/mind-body/this-is-your-brain-on-covid19

my kids will not be taking the vaccine for covid.

This is just incorrect.

it has a conditional marketing authorisation in the EU - a sort of fast track without the usual requirements normally requested. These will come in time I assume but to suggest that the vaccines are authorised as is the norm is just wrong.

To be clear - you want to vaccinate young children in case they are the cause of a new variant? Even though they themselves are at a near zero risk?

I got banned from the reddit corona virus subreddit /r/coronavirus for suggesting that it was highly unjustified to vaccinated children and that in no way should covid-unvaccinated children be prevented from going to school and their right to education.

Note I'm not anti-vax at all and am vaccinated myself. I just don't see the logic in vaccinating toddlers who have zero risk from Covid, it's ultimately just selfish of the older generation to force children to take any (very minor as it may be) risk, solely for their own benefit.

I would be willing to take a 100 euro bet with anyone on this forum that:

1 - The vaccines will be approved for children

2 - Not overnight, but ultimately if there isn't enough take up, they will not be allowed to attend schools without it

It's going to happen and it's going to get messy.

.

That's what they should do with all vaccines. No parent has the right to put other people's kids at risk of disease.

And yes my kids will be getting the coronavirus vaccine as soon as it's available for them. We will not be indoor dining on holiday etc. until the kids are vaccinated.

And do you have an issue with the virus being allowed to spread freely through schools? Maybe your kids would be alright, but not all would.

I would be of the same opinion as you that kids dont need to be vaccinated. We dont know if these vaccines has any long term side affects yet.

I do think though we will start hearing from the teachers unions around the middle of August spouting that teachers do not want to go back to schools if kids are not vaccinated. They will be pushing for remote learning - its predicatable.

Anybody with children where there is a clear benefit to them of being vaccinated should consider a vaccine when approved and available. For others, I can't see any benefit right now of vaccinating otherwise healthy children for no reason.