UK's expert committee for approving vaccines says no to vaccinating children

UK’s four health ministers ask the four Chief Medical Officers for a second opinion

Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2021

99.9999% of children aged 10-14 will not die of Covid, according to official figures

Today, Facts4EU.Org publishes the facts and the figures, using official sources, to inform the debate on vaccinating children.

On Friday (03 Sep 2021) the Government’s expert committee on approving vaccines (the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation - JCVI) recommended that COVID-19 vaccines should not be given to children aged 12-15 years. They felt that any marginal benefits did not outweigh the risks.

They made an exception for those children with serious existing health conditions, but for the vast majority of children who are healthy the JVCI advised the Government against a vaccination programme for the under-16s.

Professor Wei Shen Lim, Chair of COVID-19 Immunisation for the JCVI, said:-

“For otherwise healthy 12 to 15 year old children, their risk of severe COVID-19 disease is small and therefore the potential for benefit from COVID-19 vaccination is also small. The JCVI’s view is that overall, the health benefits from COVID-19 vaccination to healthy children aged 12 to 15 years are marginally greater than the potential harms.

Professor Wei Shen Lim, credit: PHE/Youtube

“Taking a precautionary approach, this margin of benefit is considered too small to support universal COVID-19 vaccination for this age group at this time. The committee will continue to review safety data as they emerge.”

Professor Wei Shen Lim, Chair of COVID-19 Immunisation for the JCVI, 03 Sep 2021

What are the risks of severe COVID-19 in children?

The ONS does not report figures for COVID-related deaths for the specific age band of 12-15 years. It does however report on the age band 10-14 years for England and Wales, covering five years instead of only four, but with a marginally lower top age.

So far this year (2021) there have been four deaths of 10-14 year-olds where there was some involvement with COVID. This can mean that they tested positive for COVID in the preceding 28 days, or where a doctor believes they may have had COVID. It does not of course mean that they died “of COVID”.

According to the latest ONS population figures, there were 3,620,016 children in England and Wales aged 10-14. This produces the following:-

Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary

Deaths of children aged 10-14 in England and Wales in 2021 to date

  • Deaths aged 10-14 with some COVID involvement : 4
  • Total number of children aged 10-14 : 3,620,016
  • Percentage of deaths: 0.00011%
  • Percentage of children aged 10-14 not dying with any COVID mention: 99.9999%

What does the Government’s vaccines regulator say about vaccinating children to protect others?

“When deciding on childhood immunisations, the JCVI has consistently maintained that the main focus should be the benefits to children themselves, balanced against any potential harms to them from vaccination.”

“Given the very low risk of serious COVID-19 disease in otherwise healthy 12 to 15 year olds, considerations on the potential harms and benefits of vaccination are very finely balanced and a precautionary approach was agreed.”

Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JVCI) report, 03 Sep 2021

The four health ministers in the UK have now asked their Chief Medical Officers for their opinion

Immediately following the recommendations from the JVCI against vaccinating children aged 12-15, the four ministers in the nations of the United Kingdom, wrote to their Chief Medical Officers to ask for their opinion.

To read this letter from Sajid Javid MP, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, HM Government, Eluned Morgan AS/MS, (Wales), Humza Yousaf MSP, (Scotland), and Robin Swann MLA, (Northern Ireland) click here.

Observations

The death - or indeed the serious illness - of any child is tragic for the parents and loved ones of any family. None of the Facts4EU.Org team have ever experienced this and cannot begin to imagine the pain.

Our role is to report on facts and we felt it was important that the recommendations of the official Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JVCI) on Friday be publicised. We have also provided the official facts on the number of deaths of children in broadly the age group the Government is wishing to vaccinate, and have put this into context with the overall number of children involved.

We have done so to inform the public debate on this important matter, as ever.

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[ Sources: JVCI | No.10 | ONS ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Mon 06 Sep 2021

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