British kids could ‘get Covid vaccine even if their parents don’t want them to’
BRITISH kids and teenagers could get a Covid vaccine even if their parents don’t want them to.
Experts say youngsters may be able to give consent, as long as they are fully informed and deemed mature enough to make their own decisions.
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It comes amid concern of high vaccine hesitancy among mums and dads, should the jabs be given the go-ahead in kids.
Professor Russell Viner, former president of the Royal College of Paediatric and Child Health, said he thinks guidelines that allow young people to make choices on their own treatment would also apply to Covid vaccines.
He told a Royal Society of Medicine virtual briefing: “I think those general Fraser guideline principles would absolutely apply here, and I think they should apply, because young people, if competent, should be able to make their own decisions.
“There is a requirement to assess and approve competence, for them to be fully informed, and there is a requirement for the caregiver to have discussed and tried to work with the parents.”
Prof Viner, a member of Sage, noted that the large majority of parents are undecided about whether they would want their child to have a jab, if offered.
A survey today revealed that 43 per cent of primary school parents and 53 per cent of secondary school parents would definitely want their child to have a jab.
Four per cent of primary school parents and three per cent of secondary school parents a definite “no”, according to the Office for National Statistics.
It leaves around half still unsure.
KID'S ARE ALRIGHT
Prof Viner said: “Given the benefit/risk balance would be finely balanced in teenagers, it would be no surprise to see more hesitancy because of that.”
Professor Beate Kampmann, director of The Vaccine Centre at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), said parents’ concerns may ease over time.
She told the briefing: “We have more and more people who are engaging in vaccines.
“I think it's that middle group of people who want that little more confidence and reassurance from seeing the real sitaution.
“I think as that rolls out in the countries which are now vaccinating 12 to 18 year olds - and there are plenty of them; Israel, several countries in the EU, Canada, the US - we will get more confidence.
“A safety database of 1,500 kids from a clinical trial would not necessarily convince a parent with legitimate questions.”
What is the law on children making decisions on their treatment?
Children under the age of 16 can consent to their own treatment if they're believed to have enough intelligence, competence and understanding to fully appreciate what's involved in their treatment.
This is known as being “Gillick competent” and is measured by GPs with the “Gillick test”.
For children aged under 16 who are not deemed “Gillick competent”, the parent would decide.
Legally, those aged 16 to 17 have the capacity to consent to medical treatment. But refusal of treatment can be overridden by parents in court.
There are also the Fraser guidelines which apply specifically to under 16s about contraception and sexual health without parental consent.
It comes as a decision on whether kids should be given a coronavirus vaccine is set to be made in weeks, according to an official.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) is yet to agree on when or if kids will get the jab at all, but pressure is mounting as schools keep having to send groups of kids home due to cases in bubbles.
Professor Anthony Harden, deputy chair of the JCVI said there are pros and cons when it comes to vaccinating children.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today Programme, he said the group would address the issue "in due course".
He said: "We need to be sure these vaccines benefit children in some way and the risks from the vaccine aren't such that the risk benefit ratio doesn't become sensible to give them the vaccine.
"We are looking at this data very carefully.
"Clearly we are going to have to make a view on it over the forthcoming weeks."
ONGOING ROW
There is a huge debate over whether to give children and teenagers vaccines in the lead up to schools starting a new term in September.
Because children are so rarely severely ill with Covid, the jabs are not as much of a benefit to them as they are to adults.
The risks of vaccines may outweigh the benefits, and the safety data is not comprehensive at this point.
Young adults have been shown to be more at risk of blood clots from the AstraZeneca vaccine, and heart inflammation from the Pfizer and Moderna jabs.
But the Covid jabs would likely alleviate problems with kids self isolating due to outbreaks at schools, considering they help cut transmission.
They would also be beneficial from a wider public health perspective, because it would reduce the risk of adults catching Covid too.
Martin McKee, professor of European public health at LSHTM and a member of Independent Sage, thinks it is "clear" that kids need to have a jab.
He told Times Radio: “I'm a public health physician. From a population perspective, it's very clear that we have to vaccinate children."
Professor Jeffrey Almond, another adviser to the UK's vaccine taskforce, said vaccinating children is needed for the country to reach herd immunity.
And Sage member Professor John Edmunds said the “safest way” to come out the remaining lockdown restrictions on July 19 was to vaccinate secondary-school-aged kids.
But on the contrast, one of the Government's top vaccine advisers said children are better off getting Covid than a vaccine
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Professor Robert Dingwall, who sits on the JCVI, wrote on Twitter in response to Prof Edmund’s opinion: “Teenagers are at intrinsically low risk from Covid.
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“Vaccines must be exceptionally safe to beat this.
“Given the low risk of Covid for most teenagers, it is not immoral to think that they may be better protected by natural immunity generated through infection than by asking them to take the possible risk of a vaccine.”