JCVI statement on vaccination of children aged 5 to 11 years old
Published 16 February 2022
Pressure mounting on JCVI to make decision on jabs for 12 to 15-year-olds
21st September 2021
Why the unseemly rush to give our children a vaccine they don’t need?
Giving children covid vaccines is unethical and reckless – our letter to pharmacy chiefs
JCVI ‘largely opposed’ to Covid vaccination for children under 16
August 2021
Exclusive: Members of government’s expert committee disagree with politicians and Jonathan Van-Tam
Demographic predictors of hospitalization and mortality in US children with COVID-19
Conclusion: Hospitalization and in-hospital death are rare in children diagnosed with COVID-19. However, children at higher risk for these outcomes include those with an underlying medical condition, as well as those of African American descent.
In May 2021, Andrew Pollard, who had been the chair of the JCVI said that it was morally wrong to give vaccines to children when there was next to zero risk to them from covid and poorer nations had no access to vaccines
Transplacental Transmission of the COVID-19 Vaccine mRNA: Evidence from
Placental, Maternal and Cord Blood Analyses Post-Vaccination
A pre-print showing that the mRNA vaccines can cross the placenta
Amongst 283,422 previously unvaccinated children and 132,462 children who had received a first vaccine dose, COVID-19-related outcomes were too rare to allow IRRs to be estimated precisely. A&E attendance and unplanned hospitalisation were slightly higher after first vaccination (IRRs versus no vaccination 1.05 (1.01-1.10) and 1.10 (0.95-1.26) respectively) but slightly lower after second vaccination (IRRs versus first dose 0.95 (0.86-1.05) and 0.78 (0.56-1.08) respectively). There were no COVID-19-related deaths in any group. Fewer than seven (exact number redacted) COVID-19-related critical care admissions occurred in the adolescent first dose vs unvaccinated cohort. Among both adolescents and children, myocarditis and pericarditis were documented only in the vaccinated groups, with rates of 27 and 10 cases/million after first and second doses respectively.
Conclusion BNT162b2 vaccination in adolescents reduced COVID-19 A&E attendance and hospitalisation, although these outcomes were rare. Protection against positive SARS-CoV-2 tests was transient.
Was Vaccinating Children Against Covid a Mistake? Article in the ‘Unheard’
“Firm data on hospitalisation due to Covid-19 vaccination is hard to come by, but in the US the CDC V-Safe monitoring system reports that between 1 in 5,000 and 1 in 2,500 children (depending on age group and dose) were hospitalised in the seven days after being vaccinated. Applying this to the 1.2 million fully vaccinated children in the Lancet study would suggest between 240 and 480 additional non-Covid hospitalisations, dwarfing the estimated reduction in hospitalisation for Covid-19.
By focusing only on hospitalisation, and ignoring other short and long-term side effects, the risk-benefit ratio does not come close to justifying the rollout of Covid-19 vaccination to healthy 5 to 15-year-olds. Even for those in a clinical risk group, the benefit-risk ratio is at best marginal.
Determinants of COVID-19 vaccine-induced myocarditis
Conclusion:
Receipt of BNT162b2 Vaccine and COVID-19 Ambulatory Visits in US Children Younger Than 5 Years
The approved three-dose schedule of Pfizer Covid vaccines for children under 5 did not reduce Covid-related medical visits.