Should younger teenagers be vaccinated against Covid-19?
There are plenty of good reasons to vaccinate children against coronavirus, according to Matt Hancock. The PA news agency examines the various points of view on the subject. On Friday, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in the United Kingdom approved the use of a Pfizer/BioNTech vaccination in youngsters aged 12 to 15. It is safe and effective in this age range, according to the authority, and the advantages outweigh the hazards. The vaccine was already approved for persons above the age of 16. No, not yet. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization (JCVI) will now make a recommendation on whether or not children should receive the vaccine. Professor Anthony Harnden, the JCVIs vice chairman, predicted that the committee would give the government with a number of choices. Prof Harnden stated that there are ethical issues when it comes to vaccinating youngsters. Mr Hancock agreed that young people are very rarely affected very negatively by coronavirus illness. Prof Harnden explained that the virus affects only a very small fraction of children, and that the majority of the benefits of vaccines for children will be felt by adults in terms of preventing the virus spread. I believe the vast majority of benefit will not be to children; rather, it will be an indirect benefit to adults in terms of preventing transmission and protecting adults who havent been immunised, for whatever reason havent responded to the vaccine, and thus that presents quite a few ethical dilemmas as to whether you should vaccinate children to protect adults, he said. (This is a brief piece.)