1 minute ago, sungod said:

Not sure, but omicron is the dominant one across the world and the experts are telling us its forcing out delta. If a deadlier version came along then would reassess obviously. 

 

Do you have any kids in the 5-11 bracket?

No, but I have great grand children....????

1 minute ago, transam said:

No, but I have great grand children....????

I hope you leave their parents to make their own decision then.

1 minute ago, sungod said:

I hope you leave their parents to make their own decision then.

Depends, after reading crackpot stuff by the anti-brigade on forums, anything is possible from me...????

We have already approved for my Son (8 yrs old) to receive Pfizer when it arrives, his school will deal with the logistic - so the answer to the question: Yes, I would (will) vaccinate my child.

 

I have no great concern regarding potential exposure of my son to known variants of Covid-19, so why vaccinate him.

- There is still a risk of contracting Covid-19 even for children.

- While the risk of serious consequences is low, there is a risk of ‘long covid’ in children. 

- While the risk to health of a child contracting known variants of Covid-19 is currently low, the virus has shown itself to evolve (antigenic drift) quickly - I want him vaccinated and protected in case virus drifts into a variant of concern which presents a greater threat to children.

 

 

 

This from an Oct 2021 press release;

 

Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized the emergency use of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine for the prevention of COVID-19 to include children 5 through 11 years of age. 

https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-authorizes-pfizer-biontech-covid-19-vaccine-emergency-use-children-5-through-11-years-age

Just now, bbko said:

This from an Oct 2021 press release;

 

Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized the emergency use of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine for the prevention of COVID-19 to include children 5 through 11 years of age. 

https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-authorizes-pfizer-biontech-covid-19-vaccine-emergency-use-children-5-through-11-years-age

Remember, the Pfizer jab for 5/11's is designed for that age group..

This a tough one for me.  Both my wife and I are fully vaxed so I am not anti.  I have an 8 year old son and until very recently I had absolutely no intention of getting him vaccinated.  I believed that children were almost immune - either couldn't easily get it or if they did they were generally asymptomatic.  There were pretty much no reports of deaths or serious illnesses.  I was also concerned about the lack of testing that had been done on anyone 18 and below. 

 

I am beginning to come around as more data becomes available but I am still firmly on the fence at this point.

33 minutes ago, sungod said:

I hope you leave their parents to make their own decision then.

Yes, the last thing those parents need is advice that tallies with the opinion of the medical community.

29 minutes ago, transam said:

Remember, the Pfizer jab for 5/11's is designed for that age group..

Correct, I think it is 1/3 of the dose of 12 and above.

9 minutes ago, placeholder said:

Yes, the last thing those parents need is advice that tallies with the opinion of the medical community.

Exactly, that why I watch what the JCVI are advising, only at risk 5-11 year olds.

24 minutes ago, Gashead said:

There were pretty much no reports of deaths or serious illnesses

To be fair, children dying of covid is very well documented.

 

According to the CDC, covid is a top 10 cause of death in kids aged 5-11. 

 

That said, it is comparatively low compared to adults.

 

Also, well documented is deaths after vaccines in teenagers  (particularly boys) and adults.

 

Though, the covid death figures are higher in every age group than the vaccine death figures.

 

Don't think there have been any deaths in 5-11 year olds following vaccine yet.

1 hour ago, 2009 said:

More than have died of the vaccine. 

73,000,000 children in the USA, 700 have died is what i could find.  50,000. have died of other illnesses since the pandemic.

1 hour ago, sungod said:

I hope you leave their parents to make their own decision then.

yeah tell that to the government also. my daughter starts school on monday yet again. has only been to school about 4 days in the last two years ! and they plan to start vaccination feb 1 with the second dose feb 28. if she doesn't take it there will be no school for her !...  so I have decided to just keep her out of school for the foreseeable future.  she has learned more at home anyway then the school would have taught her.

22 hours ago, thaitom said:

yeah tell that to the government also. my daughter starts school on monday yet again. has only been to school about 4 days in the last two years ! and they plan to start vaccination feb 1 with the second dose feb 28. if she doesn't take it there will be no school for her !...  so I have decided to just keep her out of school for the foreseeable future.  she has learned more at home anyway then the school would have taught her.

 

I’m sure she’s getting a stellar education at home instead of the school !!!!  ????

 

------

 

If the school is really that poor, what is she doing there in the first place?.  There is also the social side of school, kids need other kids to interact with. 

 

 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, 2009 said:

More than have died of the vaccine. 

Depends on how it's classified:

Alberta's reporting of comorbidities questioned after boy, 14, removed from COVID-19 death count

Nathanael Spitzer's family says he died of cancer, not COVID-19, as province reported

 CBC News · Posted: Oct 15, 2021

 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/covid-comorbidities-alberta-spitzer-1.6212510

 

 

 

33 minutes ago, thaitom said:

yeah tell that to the government also. my daughter starts school on monday yet again. has only been to school about 4 days in the last two years ! and they plan to start vaccination feb 1 with the second dose feb 28. if she doesn't take it there will be no school for her !...  so I have decided to just keep her out of school for the foreseeable future.  she has learned more at home anyway then the school would have taught her.

Will you get in trouble with the authorities for not sending your kid to school ?

1 hour ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

Will you get in trouble with the authorities for not sending your kid to school ?

that is a good question.  I do see many children where i live that do not attend school, and i always questioned that, wife says it doesn't matter !? does anyone know if homeschooling is legal here ?

1 hour ago, thaitom said:

yeah tell that to the government also. my daughter starts school on monday yet again. has only been to school about 4 days in the last two years ! and they plan to start vaccination feb 1 with the second dose feb 28. if she doesn't take it there will be no school for her !...  so I have decided to just keep her out of school for the foreseeable future.  she has learned more at home anyway then the school would have taught her.

You can teach Thai, Thai grammar, all that stuff that gets taught at school....?  ????

6 minutes ago, transam said:

You can teach Thai, Thai grammar, all that stuff that gets taught at school....?  ????

That is where the wife comes in......

21 hours ago, Bkk Brian said:

I'm totally pro vaccine as you probably know, however I certainly respect your decision on this with JCVI also making those recommendations.

 

Thanks for this, as I am still looking for information to convince me . If there is no evidence to any benefit why will they make it mandatory for my daughter to go to school. they already told us that the wife and I must be also vaccinated. Which we are.

9 minutes ago, thaitom said:

Thanks for this, as I am still looking for information to convince me . If there is no evidence to any benefit why will they make it mandatory for my daughter to go to school. they already told us that the wife and I must be also vaccinated. Which we are.

My Sons School told me not to come and collect him from School anymore , because I am not fully vaccinated 

Just now, Mac Mickmanus said:

My Sons School told me not to come and collect him from School anymore , because I am not fully vaccinated 

Wow, that makes no sense.

 

Even if you were vaccinated you could still bring the virus to the school and spread it.

 

People are really turning on each other. 

 

Not being vaccinated will be like being the black on the bus.

12 minutes ago, thaitom said:

Thanks for this, as I am still looking for information to convince me . If there is no evidence to any benefit why will they make it mandatory for my daughter to go to school. they already told us that the wife and I must be also vaccinated. Which we are.

I've seen it reported a couple of times from the Thai Health Ministry that for those under 12 it is a parents choice. It seems to be a decision being taken by individual schools and there is no national consensus. So long as your child had weekly ATK tests along with the other children then that should be enough, imo.

 

Of course all the teachers and parents should be vaccinated, that goes without saying.

 

At the end of the day however you have to weigh up the pro and cons of the effects of missing school for your child, its not just the education, its the important social interaction, cognitive development and mental health. 

3 minutes ago, 2009 said:

Wow, that makes no sense.

 

 

Try making sense of this :

All the kids are playing together in the playground .

A teacher with a microphone by the school gate calls the kids name one by one . and the kids leave the school one by one with a space between them so not to spread the virus , then all the kids get in the same school bus to go home 

38 minutes ago, thaitom said:

That is where the wife comes in......

My Wife is a Thammarat Masters Graduate....  some consider that a decent education in Thailand, yet she would not even attempt to teach our Son Thai, she knows she is not an educated educator - we leave that to the professionals and outsource his extra curricular Thai to a qualified Thai Teacher. 

 

The same can be said of the rest of his subjects. While I have a decent education and did well at School and at University, I am not an educator and entrust his education in those who are 'well trained’ to educate him (a good international school). 

 

This may be the difference..... ‘Well trained educators’... If your child is going to a local temple school, then the home schooling by untrained parents may be of benefit to a child, otherwise denying a child access to a decent school is denying them access to education... Most parents are not better educators than most teachers at most schools.

19 minutes ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

Try making sense of this :

All the kids are playing together in the playground .

A teacher with a microphone by the school gate calls the kids name one by one . and the kids leave the school one by one with a space between them so not to spread the virus , then all the kids get in the same school bus to go home 

My Son doesn’t use the school minibuses.....  But, at his school, due to Covid-19 measures, occupancy of the minibuses has been halved...  Kids who have been in a class room together all day, playing in the playground etc, then get in a mini-bus which offers minimal distancing at best.

 

This is not a school policy, but the School following MoPH guidelines - a lot of the regulations are pure theatre thought up by those in positions of decision making power (MoPH) often dictating policy to those heads in schools who are often better placed and better educated to handle such decisions with intelligent balance and critical thought. 

 

 

 

 

 

42 minutes ago, Bkk Brian said:

I've seen it reported a couple of times from the Thai Health Ministry that for those under 12 it is a parents choice. It seems to be a decision being taken by individual schools and there is no national consensus. So long as your child had weekly ATK tests along with the other children then that should be enough, imo.

 

Of course all the teachers and parents should be vaccinated, that goes without saying.

 

At the end of the day however you have to weigh up the pro and cons of the effects of missing school for your child, its not just the education, its the important social interaction, cognitive development and mental health. 

I weigh it up like this:

 

Cons of vaccination: potential serious side effects or death (though no kid aged 5-11 has suffered that yet)

 

Pros of vaccination: virtually eliminates risk of serious complications of covid infection and death

 

(And the data suggests it is more likely to suffer a bad fate from covid, than vaccine (at any age); a person of any age is better taking their chances with the vaccine; there is risk in vaccination, but there is greater risk in not)

 

Additional benefits: getting back to school, socializing, mental health, education.

 

Another thing is with younger kids, like kindergarten aged, their brains absorb so much so quickly.

 

Losing two years of schooling and socializing to them is like an older child losing double or triple those years. And the sponge-like brain closes off and you can never get that opportunity back.

 

 

On 1/22/2022 at 11:51 AM, 2009 said:

I really can't agree with this reasoning though.

 

Children should get the vaccine to protect themselves from serious covid complications and death, not to protect others.

 

Why should a teen boy die of the vaccine to protect his elderly neighbor (or anyone else) from covid?

Many super spreader events have been linked to schools. And as we know, it's not just about protecting yourself. It's about protecting others.

 

Stop spreading misinformation. The vaccine absolutely helps Stop transmission. That's well proven.

5 hours ago, 2009 said:

More than have died of the vaccine. 

Misinformation. Put up a link proving this. Should be interesting.

3 hours ago, Saanim said:

Actually, this statement "the vaccine doesn't stop anyone spreading it; people need the vaccines to protect themselves from death" we heard at the beginning, with some wonderful figures, over 90%. 

 

Currently, it has been modified to: "the vaccines make the illness easier and the dying either". Did I get it wrong?

 

 

Yes