Saturday 4 September 2021

UK Pupils and Covid Vaccination?

After a lengthy discussion, The UK's Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) ruled that the margin of benefit for 12-15 year olds is too small (unless they have underlying health conditions) for them to approve the group be vaccinated against Covid19. It appears that the government and, at least some of their SAGE committee, were hoping that JCVI would approve vaccination (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/sep/04/schoolchildren-in-uk-should-be-given-covid-vaccine-says-scientist). On a strict costs versus benefit analysis for the 12-15 cohort, the JVCI decision is probably correct. There are, however, several factors that could be given more weight. This first is that children obviously grow older. Leaving the 12-15 year olds unvaccinated, maintains pockets of viral infection. Consequently, the JCVI decision will make it more likely those children will be challenged by Covid19 (including novel mutants?), when they mature. Many vaccination programmes attempt to protect society from future disease and not just the treated individual (MMR, polio, TB etc). This school-age cohort is also just returning/have just returned to their education establishments. Many 12-15 year olds missed substantial amounts of tuition in earlier phases of the pandemic. There must be an imperative to reduce further educational losses. Although most Covid19-infected 12-15 year olds do not become seriously ill, some do develop long Covid. This condition is not well-understood but can debilitate. 12-15 year olds are certainly prone to become infected with the virus. Although a substantial number of the adults they come into contact with on a daily basis (parents, teachers etc), have now been jabbed, this is not true of all of them. In fairness, the JCVI see dosing vaccine hesitants as a greater priority than the 12-15 year old cohort. Many countries (e.g. the US, Israel and some members of the EU) have choosen to vaccinate their 12-15 year olds. Although there have been a few problems (e.g. very rare cases of pericarditis or heart muscle inflammation), the programmes seem to have generally been very successful. It appears that the government will ask the Chief Medical Officers of the UK's constituent countries (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales), to consider whether they have grounds to over-ride the JCVI ruling. The difficulty is that applied scientists are being asked to reconsider scientific advice. They could be accused of not 'following the science'. My own feeling is that 12-15 year olds should be offered the Covid19 vaccine. Perhaps the brief was too restrictive for the JCVI?

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