Too Young to Be Vaccinated?

Deepti Gurdasani (Queen Mary University London) is surprised that the UK's Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has been slow to approve the use of Covid19 vaccines in young people (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/aug/06/uk-government-experts-vaccinating-under-16s). Dr Gurdasani notes that, in the US and elsewhere, millions of 12-15 year olds have been jabbed with the vaccines, with very few negative reactions. The JCVI have, only this week, finally approved vaccinations for 16-17 year olds. They have, however, stated that Covid19 vaccines will not be offered to non-vulnerable 12-17 year olds. This kind of messaging does little to counter vaccine hesitancy. Young people, even when avoiding hospitalisation and death when infected, can transmit the virus to others. Their bodies can even potentially culture new viral variants. A proportion of infected younger folk will also develop multiple organ failures and/or Long Covid. One can make a case for it being more ethical and important to vaccinate older, more vulnerable people in other parts of the world. There is, however, little evidence that substantial quantities of vaccine are being released by the UK for that purpose. 'Herd Immunity' only really becomes a possibility, when there is a very low incidence of infection in the population. Gurdasani thinks the JCVI are being unduly cautious. She has a point.