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

As and when the EMA eventually recommends COVID vaccines for kids (assuming it does), which will win out, do you think:

Fear of risks from the vaccine - "probably no long term side effects but the possibility exists, we have absolutely no idea" but none known of to-date except a risk of blood clots that's smaller than the risk of blood clots arising from pregnancy or smoking?

Or fear of the risks from COVID - already known to include a spectrum ranging from short-term mild flu-like symptoms; to long-COVID symptoms including lack of energy, brain fog, permanent loss of taste and smell, and breathing difficulties; long term organ damage; and death?

@Niner leprauchan wrote

There is a risk of oversimplification here.

SARS-Cov-2 is known to trigger MIS-C in some cases. It is not known whether immunity from previous infection protects against this, or whether a child who recovers from an infection without developing MIS-C will definitely not have it triggered by a subsequent infection. Some cases of MIS-C appear to be persistent, i.e long term. The risk is concentrated in lower ages.

The mRNA vaccines are known to cause myocarditis or pericarditis in some cases. Both the onset and duration are generally short term, but there isn't much data since kids have only relatively recently started to be vaccinated so the cases of inflammation are relatively new. The risk is concentrated in upper ages. Similar inflammation can also be triggered by by the viral infection.

So we are balancing risks based on autoimmune triggers that tend to affect different age groups differentially, and where the triggered conditions vary in probable duration and severity, and where the risk of MIS-C is contingent on the probability of infection which is changing all the time due to adult vaccinations and variant evolution but where the risk of heart inflammation is contingent on both the binary probability of vaccination at the individual level and the risk of infection.

Have you taken all this into account?

FWIW, I'm not suggesting anyone would be forced to vaccinate their kids and there's no way the government will ever bring it in so everyone will be free to make their own choices.

However, from the medical perspective, there are three reasons why we would consider vaccinating children to protect others;

1) There are always a small number of people who cannot get vaccinated for medical reasons. These are also usually the most vulnerable in terms of getting sick. Reducing the overall numbers of infection protects these people. That is what herd immunity is - you cannot just have herd immunity among the at-risk population. In addition, there will be a much larger number of adults who decline the vaccine for their own reasons. Now, you can say that this is their problem, but when they get Covid, are clogging up hospital beds and we can't get basic medical procedures done, it becomes everyone's problem.

2) There will always be a small percentage of vaccinated people who get infected anyway. Again, the people at mosk risk of this are the people most at risk of serious illness from Covid, i.e. old and immunocompromised people. I wouldn't expect you to worry about protecting me - but if your kids have grandparents that they see regularly, maybe they matter more to you? Now, the odds on this are pretty low, and the odds of someone getting seriously ill are lower again, but if you have enough cases floating around in unvaccinated people, eventually you get issues in the vaccinated population. A small percentage of a very large number is still a pretty large number, as the UK are about to find out.

3) We have a million children in Ireland. Globally, it's about a quarter of the population. That's a huge population for Covid to continue swirling around in, always increasing the probability of new variants emerging. And again, even if the risk of a child getting ill from Covid is very low, if enough kids get it then eventually you will see deaths.

So they're the reasons why vaccinating children might be a good idea even if the child himself is not particularly at risk.

I understand the reluctance, especially when we don't yet have the data on kids under 12. However, there will be a trade-off in terms of prolonging the return to "normality".

Personally, I'll wait to see what the clinical trials say and take it from there.

Except the Covid vaccines don’t present the spike protein, they teach your cells to produce it. For someone who speaks so confidently about the subject, you seem to be pretty uninformed.

How do you know it has had zero effect?

People are saying they are not going to take the vaccine because they want to see the long-term effects, but then describe Covid as a minor cold. Who knows what damage a "mild" case of Covid is doing to unvaccinated people.

it's quite true that the days of life left to an 85+ yr old are limited, all the more reason to try to ensure that those days aren't spent on Oxygen or scared to death of the virus.

Children? well mine have been vaccinated.

Ah now, remember Grofus is the only user on boards who isn't able to post links or attachments, so it's unfair to link to actual logical, medical and scientific articles when all they can do in response is spout figures and say "They're real, but I can't give you a reference or link to them. But I read them, they're real, you'll just have to trust me!!!"

“HSE Chief Clinical Officer Dr Colm Henry said in order to reach herd immunity in Ireland, vaccination would have to be expanded to younger age groups. 

He said the National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC) has to consider the relative risks and benefits for children as Covid-19 presents a very low risk for children in terms of serious illness and hospitalisation.

Dr Henry said there is “disagreement internationally” on the issue and he does not expect NIAC to “emphatically recommend” vaccinating children at this stage. 

“Certainly they’re looking at teenagers, aged 12-16, but with younger age groups I expect it’s going to be more complicated,” he said.”

My son contracted Covid in college last year, so I would say yes, let them have it.

He is going for his first jab on Saturday.