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Britain will only vaccinate children against Covid 'if necessary', says government adviser – Daily Mail

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Britain will only vaccinate children against Covid ‘if necessary’, says government adviser after leaked plans revealed ministers want to start jabbing millions of under-18s from August in bid to boost immunity

  • Professor Adam Finn, from Bristol University, said ‘no decisions’ made on jabs
  • He said the UK would only immunise children if it needed to to stop virus spread
  • Leaked plans suggest ministers want to start vaccinating in August
  • Plans hinge on ongoing trials to test effectiveness and safety of jabs on children 

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The UK has not agreed any plans to vaccinate children against Covid and will only do it ‘if necessary’, a government adviser insisted today.

Professor Adam Finn, a child vaccination expert at Bristol University and member of the JCVI advisory group, said ‘no decisions have been made’.

Leaked government plans last night suggested ministers want to start getting jabs to millions of under-18s from August to try to achieve herd immunity in the UK.

But results from clinical trials involving children haven’t been released yet — and the effectiveness and side effects of the jabs when given to youngsters are unknown. 

AstraZeneca and Pfizer are both testing their vaccines on under-18s and expect to announce their findings by the summer.

Scientists say that giving Covid jabs to children is morally complicated because they have almost zero short-term risk from the disease, and would only be vaccinated to protect old people. It’s still unknown, however, how long Covid might affect them.

More than 28million adults in the UK have had their first vaccine dose so far and the NHS is on track to reach all over-18s by the end of July.

Professor Adam Finn, a member of government advisory group the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), said he was not aware of any decisions being made on plans to vaccinate children against Covid

Professor Adam Finn, a member of government advisory group the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), said he was not aware of any decisions being made on plans to vaccinate children against Covid

Vaccinating children could be controversial because it is likely to be focused on protecting older people rather than the children themselves. Other vaccines given to children, such as for measles and meningitis, protect against diseases that are very dangerous and potentially deadly to children, but the same is not true of Covid-19 (stock image)

Vaccinating children could be controversial because it is likely to be focused on protecting older people rather than the children themselves. Other vaccines given to children, such as for measles and meningitis, protect against diseases that are very dangerous and potentially deadly to children, but the same is not true of Covid-19 (stock image)

Professor Finn said on Good Morning Britain: ‘If it does turn out to be necessary to immunise children, I think it is more likely that we would prioritise teenagers over younger children, simply because the evidence we have at the moment is that transmission of the virus is more likely to occur from and between teenagers who are a little bit more like adults.

‘I think what we need to learn before that, what proportion of the population we need to immunise in order to get effective herd immunity and to suppress circulation of the virus.

‘In order to do that we need to have a clear understanding of how efficiently the vaccines actually interrupt infection and transmission and that evidence is still on its way at the moment.’ 

VACCINE-MAKERS ARE TRIALLING JABS ON CHILDREN 

Whether vaccination of children or teenagers goes ahead will depend on the results of ongoing clinical trials of the vaccines.

Currently, jabs are only approved for over-18s because younger people weren’t included in the early studies.

All the main suppliers to the UK – Pfizer and BioNTech; Oxford University and AstraZeneca; and Moderna are carrying out trials now to see if the vaccines work on youngsters.

OXFORD/ASTRAZENECA 

Oxford is testing its jab on 300 six to 17-year-olds in England and results are expected by the summer.

PFIZER/BIONTECH 

Pfizer and BioNTech have enrolled 2,259 12- to 15-year-olds in a trial of their vaccine, and plan to do the same tests on five- to 11-year-olds later in 2021.

MODERNA 

And Moderna announced this month that it was testing its vaccine on 6,750 children aged from six months to 11 in the US and Canada as well as a separate trial on 12- to 17-year-olds. These results are also expected later in the year.

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The UK will try to achieve herd immunity – in which so many people are protected that the virus can’t spread – with Covid vaccines.

But if the threshold of protection needed is high – scientists say it is likely higher than two thirds, and even vaccinating 100 per cent of adults with a 100 per cent effective vaccine, which won’t happen, would only offer 75 per cent – children may need vaccinating too otherwise the virus will continue spreading among them.

Although most won’t get sick, the long-term effects of the virus aren’t well understood, and more cases means a higher risk that some will get seriously ill or that the virus will make its way into adults for whom the jab hasn’t worked.

Even vaccinating all adults wouldn’t offer total protection because the jabs don’t stop 100 per cent of Covid cases.

Professor Finn told The Telegraph: ‘Children constitute close to quarter of the population, so even if we could achieve 100 per cent uptake of vaccines across the adult population, it only gets you to 75 per cent coverage.’

But he denied this morning that there were plans in motion to vaccinate children.

He told GMB: ‘As far as I know there has been no decision made to immunise children starting in August, or indeed any decision been taken to immunise children at all at this point.

‘But it’s certainly something that we might need to do.’

He added: ‘We clearly won’t want to do that unless it’s necessary.

‘But if it is necessary we will by then know whether the vaccines are entirely safe and effective and we’re giving the right dose and so on, so that we go forward with that later in the year.’ 

A plan leaked to The Telegraph has suggested that up to 11million under-18s could get jabs by the start of the autumn term, months ahead of schedule.

Whether this goes ahead will depend on the results of ongoing clinical trials of the vaccines.

All the main suppliers to the UK – Pfizer and BioNTech, Oxford University and AstraZeneca, and Moderna — are carrying out trials now to see if the vaccines work on youngsters.  

Oxford is testing its jab on 300 six to 17-year-olds in England and results are expected by the summer.

Pfizer and BioNTech have enrolled 2,259 12- to 15-year-olds in a trial of their vaccine, and plan to do the same tests on five- to 11-year-olds later in 2021.

And Moderna announced this month that it was testing its vaccine on 6,750 children aged from six months to 11 in the US and Canada as well as a separate trial on 12- to 17-year-olds. These results are also expected later in the year. 

Vaccination figures show another 329,897 first doses were administered on Monday, taking the total to 28.3million. And a further 82,300 second doses were dished out

Vaccination figures show another 329,897 first doses were administered on Monday, taking the total to 28.3million. And a further 82,300 second doses were dished out

Department of Health bosses announced 5,379 infections, which was up 1.6 per cent from last Tuesday

Department of Health bosses announced 5,379 infections, which was up 1.6 per cent from last Tuesday

Another 112 victims were also added to the official toll, a week on-week rise of 1.8 per cent. The overall trend for deaths is, however, still heading downwards

Another 112 victims were also added to the official toll, a week on-week rise of 1.8 per cent. The overall trend for deaths is, however, still heading downwards

Children did NOT play a key role in spreading coronavirus, study finds 

Children are unlikely to have played a significant role in the spread of coronavirus during the first wave last year, a study has revealed. 

The German study enrolled parents and children from families in a trial which ran between April and May 2020 – before new variants, which may be better at infecting children, emerged.

The research found children were far less likely get infected than their guardians and are also less likely to pass it on to someone in their household.  

A total of 4,964 people (half parents and half children) were enrolled in the study, published in January in JAMA Paediatrics.

The average age of the children was six, but spanned from one to ten years old, and the parental average age was 40.

All participants were swabbed and also had blood tests to scour for any sign of antibodies.

Just two people – a parent and child from the same family – were currently infected.

Blood tests revealed 1.8 per cent of the adults had antibodies to the SARS-CoV-2 virus which causes Covid-19. The figure for children was just 0.6 per cent, a threefold decrease.

The data also showed that there were 56 instances of at least one of the family members having the virus.

A previously infected adult and an uninfected child was 4.3 times more common than a previously infected child and an uninfected parent.

The researchers from University Children’s Hospital, Im Neuenheimer Feld in Heidelberg and Ulm University Medical Centre wrote: ‘It is unlikely that children have boosted the pandemic.’

The study published in January was conducted when schools were closed and children were therefore less exposed to the virus, but researchers not involved with the study say this does not mean the findings are irrelevant. 

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Vaccinating children could be controversial because it is likely to be focused on protecting older people rather than the children themselves.

Other vaccines given to children, such as for measles and meningitis, protect against diseases that are very dangerous and potentially deadly to children, but the same is not true of Covid.

Figures from Public Health England (PHE) show the risk of dying from Covid for over-80s is 1,513 per 100,000 people – 1.5 per cent of everyone who catches the virus.

But for children aged five to nine, this risk of death after catching Covid is just 0.1 per 100,000 – one in a million.

People who back the child vaccination policy argue that it is important to minimise the risk of infection, despite some academics arguing children do not contribute to the spread of Covid.

Israel is the first country in the world to have rolled out vaccines to under-18s, with 16 and 17-year-olds having jabs after the health ministry decided it was safe.  

If the proposal to jab children goes ahead, this would mean 11million could be vaccinated before the start of the autumn term. 

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said ‘no decisions have been made on whether children should be offered vaccinations.’

One source involved in the plan told The Telegraph that vaccines for children ‘could begin by late summer,’ stating specifically that August was the date.

Another source said that this would be the ‘earliest’ the roll-out for under-18s would begin.

Only children who are at a high risk of Covid are currently able to have a vaccine. 

The proposal to vaccinate children underlines the extent to which the government feels it must drive down cases ahead of next winter.

Boris Johnson last night conceded at the Downing Street press briefing that eradicating Covid wasn’t on the table.

‘I’m not sure that eradication makes sense in a globalised economy for one country alone,’ the PM said. 

Other efforts to increase the coverage of the vaccine programme include proposals to make it mandatory for care home workers to get a jab.

Matt Hancock confirmed yesterday that this is being considered by ministers, who are fearful of low uptake rates among the critical staff.

The Care Quality Commission, the care home regulator, says more than 41,000 people living in homes in England have died of Covid since the pandemic began.  

Vaccines can protect people living in the homes, most of whom are very elderly and have dementia or other health problems, but only if uptake is high.

Data from NHS England show that only one out of 10,413 care homes in the country had not been visited by a vaccination team and 94 per cent of all residents have had at least one dose of a jab.

Pete Calveley, CEO of Barchester Healthcare

Pete Calveley, CEO of Barchester Healthcare

But the rate is much lower among staff – 76 per cent have had a first dose, meaning one in four have not done it in the three months since the rollout began.

There are still around 112,000 unvaccinated carers working in homes, the figures show.

Pete Calveley, CEO of care provider Barchester Healthcare, said the human rights of people living in care homes were at stake and staff must protect them, and said he hoped vaccination would become a legal requirement.

The firm was one of the first to announce that it would not hire any new carers who haven’t been vaccinated and all existing staff must get a jab by the end of April. 

Hesitancy is thought to be high among care staff because many of them are from low income or less educated households or black or ethnic minority communities. All of those groups are known to be more likely to refuse a vaccine.  

Mr Calveley said the safety of his residents is a higher priority than people’s personal choice not to have a jab and that he hoped the government would make it the law. 

‘In the end, it is a hugely difficult decision,’ Mr Calveley told BBC Radio 4.

‘We have an overriding responsibility and a statutory duty to keep our residents as safe as possible, and that is in law.

‘We also have to understand human rights and we have to understand employment law.

‘But we believe that the risk to our residents – and the demonstrable increased risk if you have not had a vaccination – trumps all of that.’

NHS data show that fewer than half of care home staff have been immunised in some areas – with uptake worst in London – despite jabs being available to them since December

NHS data show that fewer than half of care home staff have been immunised in some areas – with uptake worst in London – despite jabs being available to them since December 

He said that all Barchester staff get tested three times per week and only five per cent of them tested positive after being vaccinated, compared to 15 per cent of unvaccinated workers. 

‘There is three times the risk of bringing it into a care home,’ he said.

All staff at the homes had been given regular meetings to discuss any concerns about the vaccine and for bosses to encourage them to get the jab. 

They were shown data proving the jabs were protecting their colleagues as evidence came through that they were testing positive less often, and even invited to seminars with scientists to talk through the vaccines, he said.

WHY ARE CHILDREN LESS AT RISK FROM COVID-19?

Children are less at risk of developing severe Covid symptoms and dying from the disease due to a host of differences between the bodies and immune systems of youngsters and adults, a study shows.

Australian researchers have identified several specific physiological differences which may explain why Covid-19 is rarely severe or fatal in children.

These include strong, undamaged cells in their blood vessels which prevent inflammation and clotting; elevated levels of vitamin D; an immune system that is both fast acting and well-oiled; and fewer ACE2 receptors, which the coronavirus uses to infect cells.

While Covid-19 causes well-documented respiratory problems in adults, particularly the vulnerable and elderly, other respiratory conditions also plague children.

However, society’s youngest are demonstrably less affected by coronavirus infection, making up only a tiny proportion of cases, hospital admissions and deaths.

A recent study from the US looked at hospital admissions of children at seven different hospitals and found just just four per cent of children test positive for the virus.

The research looked at tests of more than 135,000 children who went to hospital for various reasons before September 8.

It revealed only 5,374 (4.0 per cent) of patients tested positive and, of this small percentage, only 359 (6.7 per cent) were hospitalised, with 99 in intensive care.

Eight of the infected patients (0.15 per cent) later died. Six of the deaths were patients with ‘complex preexisting comorbidities’, the scientists say.

But why this is the case has thus far remained a mystery, with scientists and doctors trying to get to the bottom of the mystery. 

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We all experience stress. How we handle it is key to our health, say experts – CBC.ca

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The Dose24:36What’s the connection between stress and my health and well-being?

Read transcribed audio

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It could be a morning traffic jam. A deadline at work. A conflict with a family member. Taking care of kids and aging parents. 

Stressful situations are all around us, and experts say how we manage stress is key to preventing it from causing long-term health problems — both physical and mental. 

Short-term stress doesn’t have to be negative, but research shows that ongoing stress wears away at the body’s systems and can lead to an increased risk of heart attack, stroke, Type 2 Diabetes, and mental health challenges.

“It’s like walking around with a ten or fifteen-pound weight continually on your back and not being able to shed that weight,” psychologist Dr. Zindel Segal told Dr. Brian Goldman, host of CBC’s The Dose

There are techniques and strategies to decrease that stressful load, however, and lessen the impact of stress on the body and the mind. 

Is stress good or bad? 

Stress means that we are unable to use our personal or social resources to meet the demands being placed on us, said Dr. Eli Puterman, a health psychologist and associate professor in the school of kinesiology at UBC. 

But not all stress is bad stress, said Puterman. 

“It sometimes can motivate you to also move in the direction of, ‘Let’s change our goals,'” he said. 

From an evolutionary perspective, our bodies are engineered to handle stress, said Segal, a distinguished professor of psychology and mood disorders at the University of Toronto Scarborough. 

But after the stress response, we need a period of rest and recovery, which allows the body to recoup the resources that were used up during the stressful situation. 

Chronic stress is when we’re unable to step out of the situation and take advantage of our own natural capacity to restore, said Segal. 

It’s a system that is “stuck in the fifth gear without the ability to downshift,” he said. 

Connecting with your senses

The first step to managing stress is recognizing it, said Segal, and that means tuning into our bodies. 

“Are you noticing that maybe your heart is racing, or that your palms are sweating, or that your temple and forehead are pounding?” he said. 

Grounding techniques can anchor us in the present moment and help pull us away from intrusive thoughts or feelings to take a broader view of the situation, said Segal. 

Deep breathing and meditation can both help you tune into your senses during stressful moments. (Maggie MacPherson/CBC)

“One of the things that we lose the ability to connect with is the sensory world,” he said, which is why so many techniques for managing stress are about reconnecting with your senses. 

“Sensations are a way of actually helping us step out of thinking, to ground ourselves.” 

A breath of fresh air 

Doing yoga, meditating, exercising and deep breathing can all help ground us in our bodies and change our perspectives on stress, said Segal. 

However, stress can cause barriers to being physically active, said Puterman, so he prefers to think about moving our bodies as opposed to exercising. 

“Getting outside and going for some walks for 10, 15 minutes per day can help us start having those moments where we’re taking care of our bodies,” he said. 

LISTEN | Try this guided exercise in box breathing with Dr. Zindel Segal: 

The Dose1:50A guided exercise in box breathing

One simple exercise Segal recommends is a technique called box breathing. Here’s how to try it: 

  • Sit in a chair and notice the sensations of sitting: the feet pressing down into the floor, the hands folded in the lap or on the thighs. 
  • Breathe in for four beats (visualize the left side of the box). 
  • Hold for four beats (visualize the top of the box).
  • Breathe out for four beats (visualize the right side of the box). 
  • Hold for four beats (visualize the bottom of the box). 
  • Repeat as many times as you like. 

What stress does to the body 

It may be easy to understand how stress can take an emotional and mental toll, but research also shows that stress can have an impact on our physical health — including an increased risk of heart attack or stroke. 

“In the short term, it rapidly increases your blood pressure, which can potentially result in a tear in the plaque that is in your arteries and then subsequently cause a heart attack or a stroke,” said Dr. Hassan Mir, a cardiologist at the Ottawa Heart Institute. 

When we’re feeling stress, it activates our sympathetic nervous system, the part of our nervous system that carries signals related to our fight-or-flight response. 

That can cause an increase in our blood pressure and heart rate, said Mir. 

Another reaction to acute stress is a condition called takotsubo cardiomyopathy, or a weakened heart muscle, he said.

“When you’re really stressed, you can have this release of adrenaline in your body,” Mir said. 

WATCH We can’t avoid stress, but we can learn how to deal with it: 

Stress can create long-term health impacts: ‘It’s all about how you cope,’ says psychologist

6 months ago

Duration 1:49

Mir has seen people who come into the hospital because their partner had a cardiac arrest, and then they suddenly get rushed to the ER because it looks like they’re having a heart attack. 

“You go and look inside and the coronary arteries look completely fine, but their heart muscle looks like it’s completely weakened,” Mir said. 

If you’re frequently activating your sympathetic nervous system due to stress, that can cause other issues in the body, said Puterman. 

“If you’re starting to shift your baseline of the functioning of your physiology, you’re now entering the state where now you have too much cortisol that’s then activating too much glucose release,” he said. 

Too much glucose released into the body can cause people to enter a pre-diabetes state, said Puterman. 

How much stress is too much?  

A little bit of stress could help us handle more stressful events in the future, a theory called the inoculation hypothesis, said Puterman. 

“Some stress on a daily basis or in life actually inoculates you to future exposures to stressors,” he said. 

But there are some telltale signs that the stress you’re experiencing is causing harmful effects, said Puterman. They include: 

  • Not sleeping well.
  • Not getting as much exercise as usual.
  • Consuming more alcohol or drugs.
  • Withdrawing from others socially.
  • Getting into more arguments with family or friends.

The trick is finding that sweet spot, said Segal, between having enough stress and too much. 

“We don’t want to tip over into a point where the stress that we’re facing is overwhelming,” Segal said. 

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Medical officer encourages measles vaccinations as global cases rise – SteinbachOnline.com

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As cases of measles are increasing in parts of Canada and around the world, Manitobans are reminded that staying up to date on their vaccinations is one of the most important ways to prevent and reduce the risk of measles and other serious illnesses. 

Measles is very contagious, says Dr. Mahmoud Khodaveisi, Medical Officer of Health for Southern Health-Santé Sud. 

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The most recognized symptom of measles is a red, blotchy rash, which often begins on the face and spreads down the body. Other common symptoms include fever, runny nose, cough, drowsiness, irritability and red eyes. Measles is a serious illness, especially for young children, and can result in lung and brain infections and other conditions that lead to serious complications or death. 

Although there have been no recent confirmed cases of measles in our province since 2019, there is increasing concern as the number of cases are rising in Canada and around the world. 

Dr. Khodaveisi says that before the vaccine was available, measles was a significant cause of childhood illness, and as a result, people born before 1970 are considered immune to measles as they were likely exposed growing up. 

As part of Manitoba’s routine immunization schedule, children can receive two doses of a vaccine that protects against measles, first at 12 months and again between the ages of four and six. Together, these doses provide 97 per cent protection against measles. 

The province reports that the most recent data available shows that about 80 per cent of children in Manitoba have received one dose of the vaccine that protects against measles by age two. Nearly 75 per cent of children have received two doses of the vaccine by age seven and this rate increases to over 88 per cent by the age of 17. 

The province has sent information out about measles to health-care providers. 

Measles is a reportable disease, meaning public health must be informed about cases by laboratories and health-care providers. Once a case is reported, public health will launch an investigation. This includes identifying close contacts, offering vaccination where appropriate and notifying the public of relevant exposures if needed. 

Manitoba’s immunization registry was established in 1988, so records for anyone who has received immunizations since then should be contained in the registry. 

If you are not sure if you or your children have been vaccinated, immunization records can be requested online at https://forms.gov.mb.ca/immunization-update-request/. Alternatively, you can contact your local public health office or contact your health-care provider.

-With files from Corny Rempel. 

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Measles in Toronto: 2nd case confirmed

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A second lab-confirmed case of measles has been identified in Toronto.

The city’s public health agency said that an infant who recently returned from travel has contracted the disease. The child is recovering at home.

The first Toronto case was identified on Feb. 16.

Toronto Public Health is warning that anyone who attended the Agincourt Public Library between 1 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. on March 11 may have been exposed. Individuals should monitor for symptoms until April 1 and double check that their vaccinations are up to date.

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Symptoms of measles include red rashes, fever, cough, runny nose, red eyes and fatigue. Individuals can also get unusual white spots in their mouth.

The number of measles infections in Ontario so far this year has already surpassed the total number of cases reported in 2023.

As of March 13, Public Health Ontario had confirmed at least eight cases of measles across the province. Cases have been identified in Peel Region, Hamilton, Brant County and Windsor-Essex County.

Of those infections, six were related to travel and two had an unknown source of exposure.

In 2023, there were seven cases of measles confirmed in Ontario.

Canada-wide data is less detailed, with the Public Health Agency of Canada reporting 17 cases of measles as of March 2, along with one case of congenital rubella syndrome.

 

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