• Home
  • Health & Wellness
  • Disclaimer
    • Terms of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • DMCA Notice
Podcast
  • Home
  • Health & Wellness
  • Disclaimer
    • Terms of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • DMCA Notice
24/7 Health News
No Result
View All Result
Home Article

COVID vaccine: children in England turning five will no longer be offered a jab – here’s why that’s bad news

September 9, 2022
in Article
0
COVID vaccine: children aged 5-11 in England will no longer be offered a jab – here’s why that’s bad news
file 20220908 9311 q6tbss

PattyPhoto/Shutterstock

Several countries, including the US and Australia, recommend vaccinating children aged five to 11 against COVID.

The UK was much slower to approve this compared with some other countries and labelled it a “non-urgent offer” when COVID vaccines were made available to this age group in April this year. Children under five in the UK are not yet eligible for COVID vaccination.

The NHS has promoted COVID vaccines for primary school aged children alongside older kids; however, uptake has been low. Only 11% of 5- to 11-year-olds in England have received the first dose.




Read more:
My five-year-old is now eligible for a COVID vaccine – should I get them immunised?


But parents in England wanting to have their children vaccinated once they turn five may no longer be able to. It’s come to light that any child who turns five after August 2022 won’t be eligible to receive a COVID vaccine until they are 12, unless they are in a higher-risk group. The relevant policy from the UK Health Security Agency states:

This one-off programme applies to those aged 5 to 11 years, including those who turn five years of age before the end of August 2022.

Wales will continue to offer COVID vaccination to children who turn five after August 31, and it’s not yet clear what Scotland and Northern Ireland are doing.

But this move in England makes little sense. Vaccinating children against COVID is important, despite some of the arguments you might hear to the contrary.

COVID can be serious for kids

One popular idea is that COVID is a less serious infection in young children than it is in adults. Indeed, data has suggested that children generally fare better with COVID compared with adults. But this doesn’t mean that all children have the same experience. Some children can experience severe infections.

And, of course, the risk of this happening is higher the more COVID cases there are. It’s no secret we’ve seen high levels of COVID infections in the UK in recent times.

Hospitalisations for COVID in adults have been falling due in a large part to the successful vaccination campaigns. But this is sadly not the case for children. In 2020 in England, there were 3,259 hospitalisations in under 18s for COVID. This has risen to 16,412 so far in 2022. Sadly, there have been more deaths in children due to COVID too – 37 by the end of July this year, compared with 51 in 2021 and 12 in 2020.

Children can also develop long COVID, and the more children that are infected, the higher the number of long COVID cases we’ll see. Long COVID is a condition where symptoms continue for more than 12 weeks after the initial infection, and can’t be explained by an alternative diagnosis. These symptoms can include breathlessness, fatigue and gastrointestinal problems, for example, and can be life-changing.

At least 105,000 children and young people currently have long COVID in the UK, of which 22,000 have had symptoms for more than a year. A staggering 18,000 children and young adults report their activities are “limited a lot”. This is an appalling figure and again emphasises that COVID is not a trivial infection.

A young boy prepares to receive a vaccination.
Children can get long COVID too, another reason for vaccination.
SeventyFour/Shutterstock

The benefits of vaccination are clear

Some might suggest that natural immunity is better than a vaccine. While we do have incredible immune systems, it takes time for the immune system to act if exposed to a new threat. Vaccines teach your immune system what to do, so it can react quickly and appropriately when it encounters the virus.

A related argument is that young children may well already have been infected with COVID by the time they can be vaccinated, possibly reducing the benefit.

While it’s certainly true that many young children have been infected, it’s now clear that a prior COVID infection doesn’t necessarily protect against reinfection. Notably, the risk of reinfection with omicron is much greater than with previous variants – around five times higher than the risk with delta – and younger people are more likely to be reinfected.

Also, hybrid immunity (immunity conferred by both vaccination and infection) seems to offer better protection than that from infection alone, an argument in favour of vaccinating children.

Certain risks of vaccination have circulated on social media, in particular, that the vaccine can cause myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle). However, the risk of myocarditis is much higher from a COVID infection itself. COVID vaccines have been used successfully and safely billions of times around the world.




Read more:
The benefits of a COVID vaccine far outweigh the small risk of treatable heart inflammation


Weighing up the risks and benefits illuminates the real harms and costs of COVID in children, and the clear impetus to have them vaccinated. This analysis has led most developed countries to recommend that children are vaccinated against COVID.

With schools and buildings not necessarily protected by adequate ventilation, and mask-wearing no longer mandated, vaccine protection is even more urgent. England is now an outlier in the world and it’s not clear why this decision has been made.

Based on information from the Department of Health and Social Care, this article previously stated that all children aged five to 11 would no longer be eligible for COVID vaccination in England. The text has been corrected to clarify that it’s only children who turn five from September 2022 onwards who won’t be eligible.

The Conversation

Sheena Cruickshank is affiliated with Independent SAGE

ShareTweetSharePin
Previous Post

Cost of living crisis: the health risks of not turning the heating on in winter

Next Post

With family doctors heading for the exits, addressing the crisis in primary care is key to easing pressure on emergency rooms

Next Post
With family doctors heading for the exits, addressing the crisis in primary care is key to easing pressure on emergency rooms

With family doctors heading for the exits, addressing the crisis in primary care is key to easing pressure on emergency rooms

Most Read

What causes stuttering? A speech pathology researcher explains the science and the misconceptions around this speech disorder

What causes stuttering? A speech pathology researcher explains the science and the misconceptions around this speech disorder

December 15, 2022
morning back pain

Morning Again Ache Trigger Is Not the Mattress

October 11, 2021
lower back pain relief exercises

5 decrease again ache aid workouts

October 11, 2021
3 years after legalization, we have shockingly little information about how it changed cannabis use and health harms

3 years after legalization, we have shockingly little information about how it changed cannabis use and health harms

October 15, 2021
Nasal vaccines promise to stop the COVID-19 virus before it gets to the lungs – an immunologist explains how they work

Nasal vaccines promise to stop the COVID-19 virus before it gets to the lungs – an immunologist explains how they work

December 14, 2022
bleeding in gum

When The Bleeding in gum Is Severe ?

October 11, 2021
Good Night Sleep

6 Causes of Good Evening Sleep

October 11, 2021

COVID vaccines: how one can pace up rollout in poorer international locations

October 5, 2021
Ten small changes you can make today to prevent weight gain

Ten small changes you can make today to prevent weight gain

October 12, 2021
Support and collaboration with health-care providers can help people make health decisions

Support and collaboration with health-care providers can help people make health decisions

December 16, 2021
Greece to make COVID vaccines mandatory for over-60s, but do vaccine mandates work?

Greece to make COVID vaccines mandatory for over-60s, but do vaccine mandates work?

December 1, 2021

Multiple sclerosis: the link with earlier infection just got stronger – new study

October 12, 2021
News of war can impact your mental health — here’s how to cope

Binge-eating disorder is more common than many realise, yet it’s rarely discussed – here’s what you need to know

December 2, 2022
Nurses’ attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccination for their children are highly influenced by partisanship, a new study finds

Nurses’ attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccination for their children are highly influenced by partisanship, a new study finds

December 2, 2022
Kick up your heels – ballroom dancing offers benefits to the aging brain and could help stave off dementia

Kick up your heels – ballroom dancing offers benefits to the aging brain and could help stave off dementia

January 3, 2023
How hot is too hot for the human body? Our lab found heat + humidity gets dangerous faster than many people realize

How hot is too hot for the human body? Our lab found heat + humidity gets dangerous faster than many people realize

July 6, 2022
The promise of repairing bones and tendons with human-made materials

The promise of repairing bones and tendons with human-made materials

January 4, 2022
As viral infections skyrocket, masks are still a tried-and-true way to help keep yourself and others safe

As viral infections skyrocket, masks are still a tried-and-true way to help keep yourself and others safe

December 14, 2022
How regulatory agencies, not the courts, are imposing COVID-19 vaccine mandates

How regulatory agencies, not the courts, are imposing COVID-19 vaccine mandates

October 24, 2021
Heart disease risk from saturated fats may depend on what foods they come from – new research

Heart disease risk from saturated fats may depend on what foods they come from – new research

November 29, 2021
Late night eating may cause greater weight gain – new research points to why

Late night eating may cause greater weight gain – new research points to why

October 12, 2022

10 Things I Learned During My Body Transformation

October 12, 2021

7 Health Benefits of Sweet Potatoes

October 12, 2021
Nobel prize: how chilli peppers helped researchers uncover how humans feel pain

Nobel prize: how chilli peppers helped researchers uncover how humans feel pain

October 12, 2021
How air filters can make COVID wards safer for patients and staff

How air filters can make COVID wards safer for patients and staff

December 1, 2021
GPs don’t give useful weight-loss advice – new study

GPs don’t give useful weight-loss advice – new study

December 16, 2022
Four ways to avoid gaining weight over the festive period – but also why you shouldn’t fret about it too much

Four ways to avoid gaining weight over the festive period – but also why you shouldn’t fret about it too much

December 22, 2022
Five ways to avoid pain and injury when starting a new exercise regime

Five ways to avoid pain and injury when starting a new exercise regime

December 30, 2022
Why suicide prevention support is crucial for people with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

Why suicide prevention support is crucial for people with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

September 28, 2022
Too hot to handle: Climate considerations for youth sport during the hottest years on record

Too hot to handle: Climate considerations for youth sport during the hottest years on record

July 19, 2022
  • Home
  • Health & Wellness
  • Disclaimer

© 2020 DAILY HEALTH NEWS

  • Home
  • Health & Wellness
  • Disclaimer
    • Terms of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • DMCA Notice

© 2020 DAILY HEALTH NEWS