Sharon Luca from Warwickshire was double vaccinated earlier this year. The 45-year-old had her first dose of the Oxford AstraZeneca jab in March, and the second in May. Luca has fibromyalgia, a long-term condition without a cure that causes pain all over the body, and wanted the Covid vaccine because she was anxious about being hospitalised if she contracted the virus without protection. But, since she had the jab, she says the symptoms of her condition have flared up.
As a result, she is very against the idea of her eight-year-old son potentially having any Covid jab. 'Because of what has happened to me, there is definitely something not quite right with the vaccine,' she says. Covid-19 vaccines were tested on thousands of people worldwide before approval and went through several stages of clinical trials and strict regulation, says the NHS; the faster-than-usual timeline made possible by huge collective effort and funding.
Currently Luca’s eight-year-old son is not included in the rollout. All 16 and 17-year-olds in the UK are being offered the vaccine and, as of this week, the UK's chief medical officers recommended a single Pfizer dose for all 12 to 15-year-olds.
Elsewhere, in the US, France, Israel, Italy and Ireland, children over the age of 12 are being vaccinated. But some parents are still not convinced. A study by the Office for National Statistics, found that although 86% of primary and secondary parents would definitely or probably say yes, 3% of primary and 6% of secondary would stop their child having it.
But - what makes this so striking - is that some, like Luca, have had the vaccine themselves. ITV’s This Morning presenter Rochelle Humes shone a spotlight on this seeming contradiction when she said she was unsure about vaccinating her children (Alaia-Mai, eight, Valentina, four, and 10-month-old Blake), despite being pro-vaccination. Humes told Eamonn Holmes: 'I don’t know, they are my most precious thing in the world... I do not know the answer. I’m conflicted.'
Alison Webb*, 49, from St Albans had two doses of the Pfizer vaccine in February and May. She was anxious about having it but, after some research, decided the benefits outweighed any risks. But now, months later, she says she has learned more and wouldn’t want her 12-year-old son to have the same. He has had all other childhood vaccinations.
Dr Keith Grimes, GP at Babylon healthcare, says reasons behind parental hesitancy can be personal - like for Luca, who had an adverse reaction. 'This can be due to their own experience of the vaccine,' he says. 'For example, those who have had the vaccine and had rare and ongoing symptoms will be wary of giving [it to] their children.'
Many also still believe Covid is 'not a major issue' for kids, says Dr Grimes. Early in the pandemic the narrative, incorrectly, stated that it was only dangerous for the elderly. So parents might still be using this information as weighting against any potential (albeit low) risks associated with any vaccine. 'By and large this is true [that children are less at risk than elderly people], but Covid can cause severe problems for some children with underlying conditions, and there are some that have long term symptoms following infection,' says Dr Grimes.
This is partly how Webb weighs up her choice. 'My understanding is that a healthy child, of 12 years old, is at very little risk from coronavirus and that the potential side effects from the vaccine could be a greater risk... all this is balancing risk and benefit about making personal judgement calls,' she says. 'My job as his mother is to protect him from harm and, right now, with the information in front of me, that involves ensuring he doesn’t have the Pfizer jab.'
Just because parents make one choice for themselves, it doesn’t mean they’d always do the same for their children, says behavioural scientist Dr Pragya Agarwal. 'Parents are ultimately proxy decision-makers for their children and any decision about their [children’s] health is a high-stakes decision and places a heavy burden on parents. People use different strategies when they are deciding for themselves as opposed to when they are deciding for others, and this is heightened further when emotions are intensified as in the case of a child.'
Dr Agarwal says that, particularly when it feels like there is lack of clarity on a topic - as it could be seen with the ongoing debate over vaccinating children - 'parents are likely to veer towards the safer option'. She says this is because 'parental guilt is huge, the threat of societal judgement if they make the wrong decision, the worry about seeing their child in discomfort and associated helplessness'. Although she reiterates that she would vaccinate her own children.
Whether the final decision will lie with parents or children is unclear. Vaccine minister Nadhim Zahawi told Times Radio that 12 to 15 year olds will be able to override their parents' views if deemed 'competent to do so'. Luca says the only thing that would convince her is the passage of time and seeing no evidence of bad side effects in the population at large.
'I do not want my son to have something caused by the vaccine that he would later blame on myself and my husband,' Luca explains. 'Once this vaccine has been around for 10 years, by the time my son becomes an adult, I will let him make that decision for himself.'
For Webb, the idea that her son could override her choice now, she finds 'appalling'. 'There is no way that my child would have the competence and understanding to fully appreciate what’s involved with the vaccine - I don’t think all adults can!’
*Some names have been changed
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