Neve Gordon-Farleigh
“Jabs, jabs, jabs” was the message when it came to vaccinating the population- and now the decision has been made for 12 to 15 year olds.
As rollouts of the Oxford Astrazeneca, Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines have continued across the UK, 89% have received one dose and 81% of over 16s have been fully vaccinated.
Cases of covid, it’s long-term effects and related deaths, have remained low in children and young people. Whilst other countries have decided to vaccinate 12 to 15 year olds, the UK government have just made their decision.
Originally, the UK’s vaccine advisory body have not recommended for this demographic to have the vaccine.
“as long as we believe that the child is competent enough to make this decision then the child will prevail.”
Prior to a decision, Health Secretary, Sajid Javid, told Sky News: “If ultimately that doesn’t work, as long as we believe that the child is competent enough to make this decision then the child will prevail.”
He explained if the child was believed to be “competent enough” to make a decision on whether they wanted to receive the jab- this would override their parents opinion.
Original Concerns
“the benefits of vaccination are marginally greater than the potential known harms,”
One concern from the JVCI was the rare side effects of myocarditis– an inflammation of the heart muscle due to having the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine. However, they said:
“Given the rarity of these events and the limited follow-up time of children and young people with post-vaccination myocarditis, substantial uncertainty remains regarding the health risks associated with these adverse events.”
It goes on to say, “Overall, the committee is of the opinion that the benefits from vaccination are marginally greater than the potential known harms, but acknowledges that there is considerable uncertainty regarding the magnitude of potential harms.”
Other Countries Approaches to Vaccinating Young People
Other countries around the world have already trialled vaccinating this group, including:
- Canada, China, Israel, Japan, the Philippines, the UAE and Singapore
- The US have already managed to vaccinate over 10 million children aged over 12
- Within Europe alone, at least 29 countries including France and Spain have started to vaccinated young people aged over 12
The U.K. now joins these countries with the rollout expected to start in schools after the 22 September. It is hoped that by receiving the vaccine, children will no longer experience disruption to their education.
Prime Minister’s Winter Plans
On Tuesday 14 September Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, unveiled his plans for this coming Winter.
“smaller changes in the way we’re asking people to behave can have a bigger impact.”
As the UK continues to live with Covid-19, the vaccine rollout will carry on for 12 to 15 years olds. Whilst those seen as vulnerable, will be able to receive a booster jab. The idea is that the Winter Plan will take the shape of a ‘Plan A’ and ‘Plan B’.
The first, being ‘Plan A’ will see a continuation of vaccines and the use of Test and Trace and managing any pressures the NHS may come under.
If however, the NHS faces “unsustainable pressure”, ‘Plan B’ will come into action. This will see the return of mandatory face coverings in some places and vaccine passports in crowded indoor and outdoor venues. Under this plan, the public would also be urged to act more cautiously, with the government clearly communicating the levels of risk. Working from home may also come into action if necessary.
Movement between the two categories would be measured in terms of risk and factors including hospital pressure and state of the disease.
He said: “You wouldn’t necessarily play them all at once, far from it, you would want to do things in a graduated way.”
Adding: “Because so many of the population have some degree of immunity, smaller changes in the way we’re asking people to behave can have a bigger impact.”
Featured Image courtesy of Matteo Jorjoson on Unsplash. No changes or alterations were made to this image. Image license can be found here.
Neve Gordon-Farleigh
Neve is a 21 year old freelance journalist, and our Head Current Affairs and Instagram Editor for Empoword Journalism. She specialises in social media journalism and runs the Journo Resources Tik Tok page. You can find her on Twitter @Neve_GF.